It was two o'clock in the morning in Lanagan's bar, Johnny was on his twelfth bottle of beer and I'd had my fill of the whole night. Connie was leaning over the bar in a low cut top trying to entice some attention and the rest of the girls had left hours ago. I glanced blearily at Johnny and he had just begun to knock back the first of ten shots with the rest of the guys. They were all hooting at him like chimpanzees.

"Johnny I'm going," I slurred. I slammed down the full glass of wine I had balanced in my hand and the contents sloshed all over the table.

"Babe! Jeez!" Johnny exclaimed jumping from his seat and glancing down at his pants.

"I'm going Johnny, you gonna take me home?" His face was paralyzed with drink but suddenly it twisted into a grotesque grimace.

"Babe! Why you gotta do this to me all time, huh? The guys!" He staggered as he waved his hand towards the Neanderthals sat behind him. They began to bray loudly at this and I scuffed back my seat before heading unsteadily towards the door.

"Fuck y'all!" I called back and when I glanced behind he had already reached for another shot glass, completely unconcerned that I was about to step out on my own into the night. Looking at him from the doorway I began to realise just how fervently I had begun to hate him since I'd returned from college. He was a pig and his friends were pigs, even my own friends had begun to disgust me. They were all vapid and so completely far removed from everything I was and what I had become. In a way I had always known this but safety seemed to come in their numbers and Connie hadn't always been as manipulative and cruel as she was now. My perspective had changed since I'd come back, what was once familiar had now become alien and grotesque; I wanted nothing more to do with these people.

I stepped out onto the road, it was going to be a long walk back to my parent's house, the roadhouse bar was in the middle of a lonely old dusty track that wound up the mountain but the moon was full and luminous enough to light the way and I was too inebriated to see sense and call a cab. Besides, the night was tantalizingly beautiful and I wanted to walk through it and fully appreciate the isolation and ghostly splendor that surrounded me. It felt good to be alone for once.

Either side of me were dark woods, I decided to stick to the road and listened to the crickets chirping in the grass as I scuffed my way down. It was only a short while before I spotted the lights of a truck coming towards my direction. I panicked suddenly, after savoring my isolation the thought of meeting someone on the road was excruciating. I bolted into the woods to my left, following a small path which skirted the edges of it alongside a small field. I knew that this path was a shortcut to the town and eventually led through an old trailer park. I decided to follow that way rather than risk running into anyone on the road. Eventually the path led back into the woods and I followed it diligently until a noise stopped me in my tracks. It was a dull and persistent thud which I couldn't place but the sound of it haunted me as I stood out there alone. I inched forward carefully and slowly and finally saw a motion in a clearing in the trees ahead of me. The gloom of the forest meant I couldn't quite make it out at first but as I inched nearer the light of the moon illuminated a figure heaving an axe against blocks of wood. I recognized him at once: it was Daryl Dixon. His skin was glistening with sweat and he looked almost incandescent in the moonlight. Every muscle in my body contracted at the sight of him. I was unsure as to whether it was safe to make my presence known because we were always taught to be wary of the Dixon brothers after all, they were notoriously ferocious mountain men and were well known to everyone in town. However, I always felt differently about Daryl, there was something forgiving in his demeanor and I always remembered a time when I was younger and our dog Ralph had got himself stuck in a ravine in the woods. My sister and I were screaming at the top of our lungs, whimpering helplessly as Ralph cried nervously, his leg trapped in the rubble. Remarkably it seemed as if Daryl came out of nowhere, merely glided from the woods and swooped down to lift him out. I remember looking up into his eyes as he turned around to face us and seeing something else there that was kind and good and in contrast to the animal he had been portrayed as. Ever since that day I had always held a sort of strange affection for him, even when I saw him glaring at me with cold eyes across the gas station or spitting contemptuously at the ground whenever I passed by with Johnny and the rest of them and even though he would never give me the time of day but merely grunt when I said hello.

Here he was now, right in my path and I felt as if I had almost stumbled across some sort of private ritual. I attempted to take a step back from the clearing but just as I did he stopped chopping and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. There was dirt all across his arms and the glimmer of perspiration made him look as if he was a warrior just returned from a battle. The silence was suddenly deafening but a twig snapped mercilessly as I placed my raised foot down behind me. He raised his head instantly and simultaneously brought his crossbow up into position, which was a sobering sight.

"Who's there?" He hollered and after a moments hesitation I stepped forward into the moonlight with my hands raised. I attempted to say my name but my throat tightened and trapped it before it could escape. His eyes softened at the sight of me but contracted momentarily with confusion and anger before he lowered the crossbow. I was locked in my position, held steadfastly by his intense scrutiny and I could feel a ripple of anxiety flow tantalizingly through my body as I waited for him to break the spell.

"What you doing out here girl? You trying to get yourself killed?"

"I-came from the bar," was all I could manage whilst I feebly waved in the direction downhill.

"I coulda killed you! You know what's been going on in these parts lately?" His anger was palpable as he threw his arms up in a wild gesture, his face screwed up in a scowl and suddenly I felt terribly afraid of him.

"What d'you mean?" I whispered and took a step back. He noticed my caution and probably registered the terror on my face because his features relaxed a little. He lowered his crossbow and held a hand out towards me.

"Hey, don't be afraid alright?" He spoke softly, never actually meeting my eyes with his as he did so but keeping them fixed on the ground. "I aint mad at yuh it's just-I was afraid I mighta hurt you".

"Well...you didn't... Do you even know me at all?"

At this his eyes snapped up and met mine, holding them in silence for a moment.

"Sure I do, I know your Daddy."

"You know my father?"

"Yeah, he's a good man. Did some odd jobs for him here and there and he was sorta kind to me when I was a kid an all."

"I didn't kno-"

"Yeaaah well it's ancient history." He growled suddenly, turning around to yank his axe out of the ground thereby skirting any questions I was ready to throw at him and I found that I was suddenly full of nothing but questions for him. He was mysterious and had always held a certain fascination for me and now that I had him here in my presence it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to interrogate him about his life. How so completely different he must have lived from the rest of us when he was growing up and he only lived a short while away from the street where I've spent my whole young life. I watched him as he gathered his things together. His movements were graceful and effortless as he slung his crossbow and rucksack across his back.

"Come on," he said regarding me with a look that almost suggested curiosity, no doubt he was still bemused as to what I was doing out in the woods alone at such an hour. "Let's get your ass home."

I hesitated for a moment, uncertain as to whether I wanted him to do this. I had absolutely no idea what he was doing out here either but I was pretty sure that escorting me back to town was not in his itinerary.

"I can find my own way. You don't have to take me."

"I'm gunna," he grunted in reply. Really, what more could I say to that?

He momentarily turned his head and regarded me with caution before turning his hard stare back to the path.

"Hey, tell me what you meant about 'everything that's going on in these parts'?" I asked as I remembered his words from earlier.

He turned to regard me with blatant disdain before shaking his head incredulously.

"Jesus girl, don't you step out your front door?"