Yeah, I know. Now I'm writing two stories, 'cause I'm an idiot. But I love Daryl and need to have a story with him. So here you go! This chapter is extremely long because I couldn't find a place to end it other than the place it ends now. Most chapters won't be this long, but they'll all vary in length. Hope y'all love it!

Today, it did not rain; it was a downpour. My steady feet wove through the hectic forest floor, not pleased with the undesirable terrain. When I had a choice, I picked open fields. Less chance of making noise, and easier to spot my prey. This time I favored the forest, for then the trees offered some cover from the chilled rain, and as of late I was relatively dry.

Moving to the edge of the forest, I tipped my hunting rifle downwards, squinting as the wind changed direction and the rain pelted my face and soaked my hair, the brown locks falling from their restraints of elastic and sticking to my cheeks.

In the middle of the open field was a caravan of cars; a pickup with a motorcycle perched in the bed, a jeep, and a beat up Winnebago. From where I stood, I could see a man atop the RV, or more accurately a person. I couldn't tell features, so all I knew was that the group was a threat.

"Put da gun down." A voice called from behind me and I blinked away the rain from my eyes, and thought this through. The voice was deep and gruff, clearly male. Maybe I'd be able to work my way out of this if I played the helpless woman. Lets give it a try.

"Can I turn around?" I made my voice softer than normal, for the more vulnerable I acted, the less prepared he would be if I were to act. If need be of course.

"Put da gun down." He grumbled again and I sighed, crouching down to place the rifle amongst the soggy leaves, giving merge reason I had not heard him approach. Holding my hands up, I stood and turned, shaking my head to push the hair out of my face.

The man was not as I expected. His voice fit his body, for he gave off the stereotype of a redneck; bulky with muscle, grime covered, and a flannel shirt without sleeves. Though, while I expected a rifle or other firearm, yet had an old school crossbow leveled at my head.

"What the hell is dat?" I could see his eyes darting down to my waistband, and I cocked my hip slightly to make it evident.

"Didn't know if ya noticed, but the dead are back and they are pissed. Making noise is not the smartest idea." My tomahawk was my best weapon, though my rifle was a close second. After practicing with it for some time, I've mastered the ability to throw it with deadly accuracy.

"Put it down."

"Now, why don't you lower your bow? I ain't a threat, am I?"

He lowered his bow slightly and I was done with the cat and mouse game due to the wind change and my presence by the edge of the forest where there was no cover had me soaked to the bone, the chill with the rain making me want to get out of the rain.

Taking a step forward, I planted my left foot at an angle, then lifted my right to complete the roundhouse kick, connecting foot to bow. This took him by surprise, his grip not tightened on the weapon, and it tumbled into the brush. Finishing the circle my body was already creating, I landed and looked at him, begging him to challenge me. "You're in my domain now."

He clenched his fists, judging by the look on his face in deep conflict with the voices inside his head. Though he was raised redneck by speech an appearance, he may have had the southern upbringing to never harm a woman. Which is why he was so willing to believe I was harmless. I was less than disappointed to prove him wrong.

"We ain't hurtin ya. I gotta group, will kill ya if I call 'em."

I scrunched my face and laughed. "Please, they'll be just like you. Think I'm helpless." I quirked a brow, daring him to challenge me, and as he didn't, I gave a sight nod.

The black device on my hip began to crackle and I sighed. Pulling my tomahawk out of my belt loop, I gripped it within my right hand and pointed it at him. "Move, and I will kill you. I kill those things, and only difference with you is you can talk." With that, I used my left hand to pull the walkie talkie to my mouth. "What?" I snapped into it.

"Got a boy here...shot. Says gotta group near here. Can you to get them?"

Lowering the crackling device, I looked at him. "What's your name?"

"Ain't tellin ya." He grumbled, fidgeting as he works through what he should do. He then pulled his hand to his mouth and began to feast upon the skin around his thumb nail.

"Fine, then the boy who's shot will never see his group again." I shrugged and bent down, picked up my rifle, and draped it over my shoulder and prepared to leave.

"Daryl." His face lowered and a scowl appeared on his face as he spitefully looked over at me, a mere foot away. He was a large man and being in a situation when he's not in charge must be a foreign event for him.

Putting the walkie to my lips again, I pressed the button. "Check if Daryl is one of those members."

There was a pause while silence fell eye web the two of us and the man on the other line. My already dwindling faith in this man, Daryl, was not helped by this.

"Yes."

"Guess I'll bring them in." I clipped it back onto my belt and slipped the tomahawk back into my jeans belt loop. "Get your ass in gear, I'm sick and tired of this fucking rain."

His eyes grew slightly as the curse easily rolled off my tongue, but he quickly went to retrieve his crossbow, and I was surprised when he placed it on his back. Dumb ass, didn't know me yet was already trusting. Wouldn't make it long in this world anymore.

"Go get your little group. Ill be behind." He didn't move and I planted a hand onto my hip. "Ya gonna stand there all day, cause if you are, I can come back later." Sarcasm dripped from my voice, mixed with anger. Never in my life have I been anything close to a people person. Thought when they started to drop like flies I'd be able to just stop dealing with the dumb ones for they would have dies off. Turns out I was wrong.

He huffed out an angry breath and stormed past me, making sure to thrust his shoulder into mine as he passed. Rolling my eyes, I followed.

TWD

"What's your name?" The youngest of the group questioned, cap pulled down to shield his face from the rain, though it had finally began to slow.

The group seemed frightened yet mostly unsure when Daryl and I approached them. Turns out the one shot is a child by the name of Carl, and one from my group, Maggie, already collected his mother. They weren't too pleased to leave their cars out in the meadow with a chance to be looted, but one was seriously harmed, and I refused to get into a confined space with any of them. Said I'd send another of our group of our group to help them drive back to the farm tomorrow. After some time, they finally agreed, if not only for the crackling device on my hip giving updates about the boy.

Turning to the Asian boy who addresses me with the question, I didn't faulted a step but turned my stare into a downwards glare. "I'm not a god damn tour guide. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you all the nice sights to see or where to go in your free time. Those days are gone, and until I have someone on my side here to watch my back against a group of strangers, I'm not going to tell you shit about me other than the fact that I'm deadly with my rifle as well as my tomahawk. Is that clear?" I had no intentions of repeating myself, now nor in the future.

When none of them responded, I gave myself a curt not of self approval, I turned my attention back to the trail ahead of us, picking up on each small difference in leaf and twig. In a forest, with little light because of the storm clouds.

"Cause it's raining, y'all can come in the house. Man in charge isn't fond of guns. I am." I looked over my shoulder at them. "You pull yours out, I will not hesitate to do the same." Walking up the stairs, I opened the door and stepped inside, met by Maggie.

"What took you so long?" Her voice was stern with what should have been anger, yet quiet to show how frightened she was by the ordeal. Overall, she was surely mad I had left her here alone to deal with the situation.

"Trying to hunt when I went on a damn search and find adventure." Pulling my rifle off my back, I placed it next to the door then pulled my hair down from the hair tie, or at least the hair that remained. Shaking my hair out, I allowed the soaking waves to fall past my clothes.

"So... Who are all of these people?" Maggie glanced over my shoulder at the newcomers. I looked back at them and shrugged. They awkwardly stood there, sopping wet and fidgeting.

"Hell if I know." Tilting my head back towards her, I picked at my clothes. "Ya got cloths can borrow?"

Her eyes were glazed slightly with the inability to comprehend the events of the day. "Yeah... And I'm sure I can find all of you clothes." Maybe she was startled by the sheer number of them? It was stifling in comparison to our quaint group.

We trudged up the stairs and I moved into Maggie's room and opened the drawers, while she moved into her fathers room for clothes for the men. She surely assumed I'd pull clothes out for the girls, but that was not something I planned to do. Instead, I pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt for me.

Yanking my wet shirt off, I checked that my bra was dry and decided it was damp but would suffice. "Mac?" Maggie shuffled into the room, arms filled with a miss mash of clothes. "Seriously?"

"You know I don't help people." I shrugged, yet when she didn't move, I pulled shirts an pants out at will and added them to her pile.

"Thank you. Was that so hard?" I scrunched my face at her rhetorical question, tugging the black shirt in my hand over my head. It was fitted and had a slight v-neck, but all that concerned me was the fact that it was dry. On order to keep it that way, I decided to pull my hair up once more with the elastic around my wrist.

Maggie stepped out into the hall and I could clearly hear her stomping down the stairs. She was not a hunter by any sense, and could wake the dead with her footsteps.

I quickly changed my pants with the skinny jeans in my hands, then sat on the edge of the bed and pulled my combat boots on, tightening the laces then standing.

Making my way doesn't the stairs, I saw that most had changes, surely loosing all modesty after living with each other for such an extended time. Leaning back slightly, I looked through the window and saw that the rain had stopped.

"So, you all will be able to stay here for a bit." I looked over at Maggie, my confusion clear only face. She was crazy if she planned on having them live in the house. "Just until the boy gets better. He is critical and Otis and one of your men went to gather medical supplies. So..." She looked at me, shrugging as she hugged herself. Not only is she not a hunter, she barely goes outside other than to collect vegetables, fruits, and eggs.

"So...are we setting up tents or something?" I questioned, knowing we had a stockpile of tents in the storage barn.

"That's a great idea, Mac!" She gave me a cheesy smile as if it wasn't her idea.

"The hell kinda name is Mac?" Daryl quipped from against the wall, where he had taken up residence.

"Short for Mackenzie dumb ass." Shaking my head I patted my tomahawk to insure I had replaced it when I changed, which I had. "Now you're getting the shittiest tent in the lot."

Throwing the door open, I jumped over the three stairs that led to the ground and stomped through the newly created mud, oddly comforted by the gentle sloshing sound that came along with it.

I could hear the group stumbling behind me, even hearing a few almost fall on their asses. We made it to the storage barn ad I pulled the door open, stepping inside and disappearing into the darkness. I held true to my word and automatically pulled the shittiest tent out. It wasn't actually flawed in any way, but it was used more than the others.

Passing out all of the tents, I walked into the yard and pushed the old tent into Daryl's arms and closed the door. "Follow me." I called out to the entire group, and began to walk toward the front of the yard.

There was a single tent set up, green and created for hunting so it camouflaged easily into the woods if needed to do so. It could fit two, or one cot and room for supplies. "Who's is that?" The blonde girl questioned, pointing at the tent as if I wouldn't understand which one she was talking about without it.

"Mine. So all y'all can set up over there." I pointed several yards away from my tent, not wanting these people anywhere near me.

"Why are you out here?" He Asian man asked once again. I was unsure with why he was so nosy with my life, and I didn't appreciate it. He must be from a family where talking was encouraged.

"I'm not family." Simple answer, and it was the truth. I went way back with the Greene family, but there was no blood shared between us. I could see the questions boiling up within him, so I cut him off. "Obviously, I'm not...fond of people. So, go set up over there and if any of you city folk can't set up, guess I'll help." Didn't want to offer, but I felt it was the most socially acceptable option to give.

They nodded and walked off in the direction I ordered, except for one. As I turned towards my tent to check that the contents survive the sudden rain.

There was Daryl, dropping his tent and then fell to his knees to begin unpacking it.

"Hell no." I planted my foot on the rectangle packaging. "Hoping you aren't deaf, cause I ain't gonna slow down for ya."

"The hell ya talkin bout?" He grumbled, glaring at my foot and refusing to cast his gaze upwards to look at me.

"I'll tell ya this one time, so listen up, I ain't one for repeating myself. I've made this clear, ya set all of your shit up away from me."

He gripped the bag and yanked it from under my foot, causing it to land in the mud with a solid thud. "Fine, bitch."

As he stood, I moved closer so I was able to get right up in his face, adding as much threat behind my words as I could. "Alright, this might not be my house, and it sure as hell ain't my family, but it's as close as its gonna get. So you cross me, I can easily kick you ass back into the woods so fast your damn crossbow will spin, you got that?"

He turned on heel, causing fresh mud to form on his boots, then stormed off. I watched as he went in the direction opposite from his group, causing utter confusion. When told to set up, he decided to set up right next to me. Then when told to move, he trailed off to a direction away from anyone else. Damn redneck.

Moving into my tent I sat on the moss green sleeping bag and felt the cool polyester under my fingertips. Peering out at the side of my tent without sleeping bag, where my meekly contents were strewn about. Luckily, the tent managed to keep all traces of rain out, keeping all contents dry.

As I did not live with the Greene's, all of my lively hood was at my house a few streets down. When the first of the infected made it to my house, I packed a pair of clothes, my tomahawk, and a few cans of food and water and got the hell out of there. Since then, I've managed to go back once, grab one more set of clothes and a single book before a horde approached and I had to flee.

I'm not fond of people, and strangers got under my skin. Today will be good as any to go trek back to my house and gather some of the thing that I miss most.

Slipping out if my tent, I saw that Daryl was nearly done setting up, as well as the elderly man. The rest barely had it all sorted out. Pathetic.

Moving into the house, I saw Maggie hastily trying to cut up enough vegetables to be able to fee the group, tossing it all into a pot of water for a stew. "I'm heading out." Before the world went to shit, I would never give someone this heads up. These people took me in though, therefore I felt necessary to tell them before I disappeared.

"To get meat?" She questioned, pausing from cutting the carrot on the cutting board.

"Nah, try to clear out my house. Ill bring back the meat from the river though."

"You can't go by yourself. Last time you barely made it out." She placed the knife down with a clatter.

"Too bad, I'm going." I grabbed an empty pack off the ground and onto my back, adjusted my tomahawk, and pulled the rifle over shoulder. "I'll be back in time to have the meat cooked." There would be two or three hours left before dinner was due to be served, so most likely I'd be able to make it there and back with time to cook the meat. If not, the group would settle with vegetables again.

"Mac!" She called after me, but I ignored, continuing my pace towards and out the door. I'd be damned if I would be stuck with this group for one more minute.