Authors' note:
First and foremost: I do not own The Walking Dead, any of its characters or locations. I only own my generic OC :D And I do not own any of the lyrics at the beginning of the chapters.

Before you read on, I'd like to mention a few things:
I'm not a native speaker or resident of the US. I tried my best to spell check and use proper grammar and tried to research everything I mention in this story thoroughly.
This is an OC-centric story, so I will not rewrite the original script, I'll try to stick with canon and lampshade events that are important but too redundant to write out again. I'm using my OC to fill some plot holes I noticed when I re-watched TWD and to ... well ... fantasize :D
I've split the chapters in days/episodes up until now, but for the sake of length I'll try to re-split them for uploading.

Trigger warning: Violence, sexual violence, gore, mental illness, marry sue-ness and eventual fluff in the future.

Enjoy!

Iron

Deep in the ocean, dead and cast away
Where innocence is burned in flames
A million mile from home, I'm walking ahead
I'm frozen to the bones, I am...

A soldier on my own, I don't know the way
I'm riding up the heights of shame
I'm waiting for the call, the hand on the chest
I'm ready for the fight and fate

Green, green, the only thing she saw was a green blur as she ran as fast as she could. At least green was better than red. It was pure luck she didn't run into a tree or stumble over branches or roots. It was all a blur, made out of panic, sweat and tears. She didn't bother to look back, unable to see and unable to hear over her pounding heart. If they caught her again it wouldn't matter anyway. She didn't even know for how long she had been running, she couldn't feel her legs or anything rather.
Pictures of the men flashed back into her mind. The laughter, the pain, the humiliation. She'd rather be eaten alive then go back there.
Eventually she tripped over something soft, sending her flying and land on her face roughly. For a moment she stayed laying there frozen, not even daring to breathe. She still couldn't hear much over her heartbeat until a groan sounded from behind her. Slowly she turned her head, shaking.
She had fallen over a man, who was bringing his hand up to his head. After rubbing his forehead his eyes turned to her widening. They both jumped up, he holding up a crossbow with one arrow left and her just crouching low holding the small knife she had stolen in front of her face. It was still hard to focus but she tried to take in as many details about him to come up with a plan. He seemed exhausted and injured. There was blood covering his face and arms and he favored his left leg. A string with ears on it was hanging from his neck and a doll from his belt next to a hunting knife. His eyes looked wild and the crossbow rattled quietly from his shivering hands. His clothes were dirty and bloody from a wound on his left side. Maybe she could take him, maybe she could've if she hadn't run for however long.
"Who r you." He eventually barked squinting.
She couldn't answer, what if he was one of them and she just happened to not have seen him before.
"Who you running from?" He barked again taking a step closer to intimidate her.
How did he know? Why wasn't he just shooting her?
Noticing the confusion in her eyes he continued. "No use lyin'."
"I..." she managed before both heard rustling somewhere not so far behind them. With a whimper she straightened and took a few steps back. "No...nononononononono." she stammered slipping the knife back through her belt and started to turn. The man quickly moved and grabbed her arm.
"Where ya think yer goin'?"
"Leggo! I won't go back! They're coming!" she almost squeaked in panic trying to break free.
"Who's coming?" he jerked her back roughly.
Before she even had a chance to respond, they heard a whistle. He pulled her down, crouching low and scanning the trees around.
"Who's that?" He rasped tugging on her arm. She only whimpered trying to pry his hand from her.
"We know you're here blondie! Come out and we'll bring you back home." A male voice sang through the woods and a burst of laughter could be heard.
"How many?" the man with the crossbow urged still holding her as she was trying to scramble away.
"Please..." she sobbed. "Lemmego."
"Are they dangerous?"
She nodded trying harder to get away. Suddenly she went still, eyes wide.
He turned his head to see two men approaching. They were still looking around with their guns low, so chances were high they hadn't seen the pair yet.
With one look the hunter knew no matter what, he wouldn't be able to negotiate with those men and it wouldn't sit right with him to leave her there. Something awful must have happened to her judging from the state she was in. He thought for a second and turned back to the young woman.
"You stay here. Don't run, whatever happens." he whispered. She didn't even blink, her eyes trained on the two strangers. With a grunt he stalked away as quietly as possible, not leaving the gunmen out of his sight.
It didn't even take a minute for them to reach her.
"There you are, buttercup." one of them sneered.
"God look at her face, Bummer...need some paper bags for later." the other laughed. "Must've fallen on her pretty head while running."
"S'long as the rest is still intact..." he snorted and crouched down and tugged on her shirt.
She was still frozen in place, tears silently running down her cheeks. She didn't even flinch as the man with the crossbow came up from behind, burying his knife into the back of the standing gunman. The other turned around on his heels to see what was happening and jumped up on his feet as he saw his partner sink to the ground. The hunter was just quick enough to retrieve his knife, to grab the gun with his free hand and avoid the bullet meant for his head.
They struggled for a moment. Blinking away the shock and realizing what was happening the blonde got up. Was she actually saved? Feeling the anger for the men bubbling up in her stomach she grabbed the knife from her belt, waited for the right moment and slammed the short blade into the back of the gunman's neck. She led go of the handle as he sank down dead. The hunter plunged his knife into the other's skull and picked up the handgun and the rifle.
The young woman was violently throwing up, pressing one hand to her chest and the other to her stomach. He glanced up at her. Killing a man made her sick, so she wouldn't be much of a threat; he thought while searching the corpses for loot.
"You alright?" he asked as he came up next to her. She just shook her head no.
"Tell me who those guys were?" he rubbed the back of his hand over his nose to wipe off some fresh blood.
"Group." she managed between pants.
"Far from 'ere?"
She shrugged. "Been running. Lost track." she wiped her mouth.
He shifted his stance rubbing his hand over his face.
"What's yer name?" he eventually asked.
Slowly she straightened up, looking at him. He was half turned away from her, narrow blue eyes studying her back, his hands hung to his sides. Not much of a threat, for now.
"Yara." she answered wringing her hands uncomfortably.
"Daryl." he replied with a nod. "Mind telling me what this was about?"
She gave him a sideways frown, distrust clear in her eyes.
"How'd you know I ran?" she asked instead of answering.
"Obvious. Stompin' through the woods and stickin' out like a pink horse. No one with a straight head on their shoulders would risk that these times..." He scoffed.
She looked down on herself. He was right, the black pants, boots and teal shirt contrasted heavily with her pale skin and the bright print of a rainbow puking unicorn on her chest made matters worse. And it didn't conceal her in the green and brown woods at all.
"Thanks...for saving me..." she mumbled.
"Didn't have much of a choice." Daryl said starting to move past her. He still pondered on what to do with her. Was she safe to take back to the others? He couldn't decide but he also couldn't leave her there, with her tiny knife and that neon sign of a shirt.
Yara was standing still, looking at her hands that were covered with dirt and splatters of blood. She felt her legs burn like hell now that the threat was dealt with and the question of what to do now hammered with the headache that was growing. She didn't plan ahead, everything happened so quickly. How was she going to survive in the woods? How was she going to stay alive? Her head spun widely and at first she didn't notice the words directed at her.
"Ey!" he barked. "I said, you coming or what?"
Her eyes shot up.
"What?" she mumbled.
"There's a farm, people, food. We have a doc s well..." he said reluctantly. He still didn't know if this was a good idea but he rarely misjudged a person and if he did this time, they could take care of it later. She frowned, going over her options. Trying alone would probably kill her come nightfall, but trusting a stranger, a man, felt like she would be dragged back. Still nothing could be worse than the last two months. So she moved towards the hunter, wringing her hands anxiously.

Daryl grunted in dismay. "Yer too loud." he said after a good half an hour of walking.
She shot him a glare.
"Ya need to roll your feet, front to back and shift yer weight right."
He stopped holding his arm out in front of her. It looked a bit silly as he slowly tipped the outside of the ball of his foot down, rolling on his heel and shifting his weight forward.
"Like tha'."
Yara looked at him with suspicion but mimicked his movement.
"Yea. Bend yer knees a lil'."
"Why you teaching me?" she asked with a raised brow.
"Can't risk you attracting walkers, stomping around...bad enough we need to move slow..."
"Why not leave me then?"
Daryl's mouth formed into a thin line, he squinted at her and he considered to do just that, again. Eventually he looked forward and started to move again.
"Dun feel right..." he murmured.
She followed him, remembering halfway to try this new method of walking. It made her legs burn even more than before, but she noticed the different sound.

Now that Yara got used to 'walking more quietly' the silence was almost deafening. They had been walking for another hour before she almost jumped out of her skin when Daryl spoke up.
"Yer ever even been in the woods before?" He gave her a sideways look.
"No, not like this at least." she answered tiptoeing over a fallen branch. "Before...of course, for hiking or camping...just a few times though."
"Big city girl huh." he scoffed.
She nodded "Yea. Boston. Was on a trip to Philadelphia when it all went down..."
For a moment she pondered if she should go on. She didn't know if she could trust the hunter, but she already decided to follow him, so why not explain.
"I was with a group at first. Good people. We'd stay on the outskirts of Philadelphia for a while, scavenging what we could, sharing what we had." She swallowed hard. "One day, we had to move. A herd was about to hit our camp and we had next to no weapons on hand and only one man who knew how to shoot. On the road we encountered another group. They seemed friendly, but something was off." She had to stop for a moment feeling the memories rush back like a rock hitting her in the stomach.
"Ya don't have tah..." Daryl said looking at her. He had a bad feeling about her story and he regretted asking about it earlier.
"They killed all the men..." she said quietly and continued to walk. "Old folks too. Women and girls were brought back to a small shopping center. They held us...in the temporary detention cell...six of us..." she rubbed her hands over her face and took a deep breath.
Daryl's chest clenched painfully. She didn't say it but he had some ideas of why they were held there and it made him angry and glad they had killed the men earlier.
"So after two months, they decided to move on after most supplies ran out...We had been on the road for a few days and last night I had a chance to slip out. Been running since then."
He hummed, not knowing what to respond. Guilt stirred in his stomach. He and Merle were about to rob the camp as well and knowing his brother's temperament he wouldn't put it past him to dirty his hands on Andrea or Lori. If the older hadn't been left for dead on that roof, Daryl might have become a man who he now wanted to beat bloody.
"Apocalypse brings the worst out in people..." he said.
Yara hummed quietly as they continued on.

Both were hobbling at minimum speed after two more hours of walking. Daryl was looking ghostly pale and his breathes came out ragged. Yara's shape was even worse. Something on her back was bleeding through her shirt, her right leg was cramping uncontrollably and she could only drag it behind. She was close to passing out when they broke out of the forest and reached the fields.
in the distance she heard some commotion, but only realized what it was when a chrome gun was pointed at Daryl.
"That's the third time you pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" the hunter eventually called daringly. That's when Yara felt her legs give in and she collapsed into the tall grass. Barrels whipped in her direction.
"'s fine, she's with me." Daryl slurred. "Get her inside will ya." He said before a shot sounded and he was whirled around and landed in the grass next to the blonde.