"Shit," Lena cursed under her breath as she flew through the forest. Her worn leather combat boots had gotten her this far, they offered protection from the overgrowth and various sticks on the ground. Behind her, at least 10 dead heads, far more arrows than she possessed in her quiver. She was not familiar with this area, but she could tell by the downward slope that there must be a body of water nearby. As the ground continued to slope further, one of the dead stumbled and fell. As it rolled towards her, she went to shoot, but another arrow lodged in its skull before she could. Looking ahead, she noticed two forms, weapons aimed at the dead. She didn't have long to consider her options, especially after the two figures eliminated the dead behind her. She pulled her bow and aimed it at the lighter haired man holding a gun.

"We're not trying to hurt you," he stated, holstering his handgun. Lena didn't budge. She kept the bow up. "My name is Aaron, this is my friend, Daryl. We have a place not too far from here."

"I'm not interested," she said, looking between the two men. The darker haired of the duo lowered his crossbow, following Aaron's lead.

"Our community is called Alexandria, our job is-was to find new survivors and see if they would be a good fit for our community, I had been keeping tabs on your group for a while."

"Guess you know there's nothing left, then, don't you?" her full lips formed a line on her face and she tried her very hardest to mask the pain from her fresh wounds from her losses.

"Yes, we know, I'm terribly sorry for all that you've lost," Daryl remained silent, as Aaron continued with an even tone.

"Don't you get it? I couldn't save them and I won't be any help to your group, so just leave me alone."

"Can't do it on yer own," Daryl stated gruffly. "None of us can," he added, thinking back to Rick's earlier words, about how everyone out here needed to take care of themselves, just like those in Atlanta. It wasn't often that Daryl blatantly went against the wishes of the man he'd come to know as a brother.

"I'm better off that way," she laughed darkly. "So either shoot me, or let me go," she lowered her bow, hoping the worst these men would do was shoot her.

"We saw you, at your camp, seemed like you did a lot to take care of them," Aaron said. "If you wanted to die, I think you would've ended it yourself."

"Thought about it, my mama would roll over in her grave."

"Why not be part of somethin' then?" Daryl asked and Lena had a hard time arguing further. The battle within herself consisted of the idea that she was not good enough to be with another group, that she had failed her last group, had failed the people that she loved. The other voice inside her head was telling her to take this chance, that being part of something was better than running from the dead for the rest of her life, until one of the dead turned her into one of them. There was no end to what she was doing now, she knew that.

"If I agree," she started. "What happens to me?" looking between the two men, she watched for a hint of deception. Over her last twenty-eight years, Lena thought that she had gotten pretty good at reading other. Daryl's bright blue eyes held a hidden pain, she could see that there were many layers to him, but none of them seemed to have malicious intent.

"You come back with us, to our town, you meet our leader, and we set you up with a place to stay, a hot shower, and a home cooked meal," Aaron said, simply.

"That's the kind of normalcy I haven't had in years," she frowned, trying to remember what it was like to take a bubble bath with a glass of wine, to feel safe enough to do so. Something she craved at the end of the world, was the feeling of security. In the last few years, she couldn't remember a time that she was fully at ease, making their offer far more appealing.

"Then let's go," Daryl said, and he started walking. She had to admit, this movement was persuasive, she followed him without another word. The trio made their way silently through the foliage for about half of a mile, until Lena's dark blue eyes spotted a squirrel, she brought her bow up and let the arrow fly. Simultaneously, an arrow planted in each eye of the furry critter. Lena looked at Daryl to find him looking back at her. "Ya hunt?"

"Was doing that long before this shit show Lenathon started," she murmured, picking the animal up and attaching its head to her belt. "Gotta eat to survive, gotta kill to eat. One thing us and those dead heads have in common," she continued to follow his lead forward. Daryl couldn't help but agree with her. She was smart, she would be a helpful addition to their group. "Ironically, that's what I was doing when my group got taken down," she added.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said, offering his condolences, she nodded and continued on with the two men.

XxX

When they finally made their way back to Alexandria, Aaron approached the gate first, a dark haired woman opened one side of the fence, her dark eyes scanned over Aaron and Daryl before going to Lena. "Who in the hell is this?" she questioned.

"Rositia, this is Lena, Lena, Rositia," Aaron said calmly.

"Rick said not to bring people back," she snapped.

"I'll talk to 'im," Daryl said. "Now open the gate," wordlessly the brunette did as instructed and the trio made their way through the gate.

"C'mon, Lena, we're going to go meet Deanna," Aaron led the way to a grand home within the gates. Within the home, Lena met a shorter woman, quite a bit older than her. Aaron introduced the two of them and the younger blonde couldn't help but sense that something was off with Deanna, even though this was the first time they had met, she just seemed not entirely with it.

"Lena, it's great to meet you, we will find something for you to do to pull your weight around here...For now, Aaron can you get her set up with a place to stay?"

"Yes, of course, I'll take your on the grand tour," he smiled lightly. Lena nodded and followed the light haired man.

After discovering where the infirmary, pantry, and armory were, Aaron led Lena to a row of houses. "A couple of these are empty, you're welcome to take any of these three," he pointed to a couple on the left hand side of the street. "Or if you want, Eric and I do have another bedroom, with a private bath that we're not using," he added and she thought for a moment.

"Who's Eric?" she asked.

"My partner, it's a big house, would be nice to have some company," he added hopefully. He watched as Lena considered her options. She realized that if she was going to give this place a real chance, she couldn't exile herself, she had done that many times before and she needed to find a new reason to live.

"I'd like to stay with you," she finally decided. Aaron looked pleased as he led the way inside. Another man, with auburn colored hair and dark eyes sat on the living room couch, his feet propped up on the ottam with a book in his lap.

"Hey Eric," Aaron greeted and the younger man rose from the couch before coming to greet his boyfriend.

"Who's this?" his eyes scanned to blonde haired woman in the room.

"I'm Lena," she extended her hand and he accepted it.

"It's nice to meet you," he said earnestly.

"She's going to be living with us," Aaron grinned.

"Let me show you upstairs!" Eric exclaimed, hurrying up the wooden steps. While looking around, Lena noticed that the house was pristine, it looked like any of the homes she had been in before. It was the type of expensive home she would have only ever seen in a magazine before any of this.

Eric showed her to the spare bedroom, the walls were painted a pale blue and there was a queen size bed in the center of the room, she saw two doors within the bedroom, one more than likely led to a closet and the other led to the bathroom. The bed sheets were a navy blue with an assortment of pillows laid across the head of the bed.

"Will this do okay?" he asked.

"I mean it ain't the Hilton," she said with a wry smile. "But I think it'll be more than enough," she nodded to him.

"Excellent, I will let you get settled, there are fresh towels and soaps and things in the bathroom. Make yourself at home," he nodded to her before exiting the bedroom.

Lena stepped into the bathroom and turned the lock behind her, she still didn't know these people well enough to trust them entirely, but a hot shower was calling her name. For the first time in, she couldn't even remember how long, she caught a glance at herself in the mirror. She saw the layers of dirt and blood on her cheeks, her once blonde hair was caked in dirt, making it look a much darker hue, and she could hardly recognize her own features. Her cheekbones appeared much sharper than they once had, as she peeled her dirty clothes, she could see that there were many other parts of her body that showed signs of weight loss. She could see her ribs and her hip bones looked much sharper now. Lena had always stayed in decent shape, she had a few pounds that she could've lost, but she always had layers of muscle built up beneath that. She sighed quietly and turned on the hot water.

Eventually stepping under the spray, she couldn't help but let out a small moan of pleasure. The heat from the tap seemed to revitalize her in a way that she didn't think imaginable. She grabbed the body wash and the loofah and got to work on removing the layers and layers of dirt from her body. After much scrubbing, her skin had a slightly red tint to it, but the job was done. Her fingers carefully worked to remove the grime from her hair. After what felt like ages, she finally stepped out of the shower and grabbed the fluffy pink bath towel. She wrapped it around her torso and stepped in front of the mirror once again. She cleared the steam with her hand and took another look at herself, she felt much better. She opened the various drawers attached to the vanity, before she found a brush and a pair of scissors.

It took until Lena stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but the white bathrobe from the bathroom to realize that she didn't have any clean clothes. She thought to go ask Eric or Aaron, but as it turned out, there was a stack of clothing sitting at the foot of her bed. A pair of black athletic leggings and a T-shirt with a cat on it, as well as a sports bra, and a pair of plain black underwear were all there for her. A flood of emotion washed over her and she pulled the outfit on. She felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, comfortable. She sat on the foot of the bed before laying on her back and savoring this moment of privacy. She didn't know what the next days had ahead for her, but she hoped she could make a home out of this community.

AN: Whoa it's been a minute since I posted something on here. I started feeling inspired, so I thought I'd give this another go. I would love to hear some feedback on this and how everyone is liking it so far. Thank you all for taking the time to give this a read :)

-M