Finally his hand clutched at the hard soil at the top of the ravine and by digging his fingers into the dirt he was able to drag himself over the edge. Pulling himself over and resting on his knees with one hand resting on the trunk of the tree next to him filled him with an uncountable amount of relief. He took deep breaths. He wasn't exactly out of this situation yet, he was just in the home stretch now, but the worst was over. Standing up he shouted, "You better run!" into the air where moments before he had been so sure his brother was standing; taunting him as he struggled to climb up the side of the ravine. He stood for a moment to catch his breath.

Zoey was walking through the woods looking for any sign that a young girl had been there. She was not entirely comfortable with being alone in the woods, but she choose this so she couldn't complain. Anticipation was eating at her. She wanted to find the girl, reunite her with her mother and have the group move on. She sensed something was off with Hershel. He wasn't what she had first thought he was.

She heard rustling from an overgrown bush near her and her hand flew reflexively to her hip where she had a short sword in a sheath on her belt. It was a Lord of the Rings replica sword that she had spent close to five-hundred dollars on just to hang it on her wall. Who would have ever thought she would actually be fighting monsters with it. The group laughed at her for owning the sword and most of them didn't even know it was a prop replica for a fantasy movie. She figured if they did know they would just laugh all the more, so she didn't say anything. Not that she really cared anyway as it was an effective enough weapon against walkers.

The noise turned out to be nothing but a squirrel. Her grip around the swords handle slacked and she let out a breath that was stuck in her throat from the moments fear she experienced. As the squirrel scampered away she couldn't help but wonder if it would end up wandering across the ravine into Daryl's grid and meet a very nasty fate. She terminated the thought when she realized that if that were the case she would most likely end up eating the poor thing later on. Hershel was stingy with his food as well as his house.

She pressed on again but didn't manage to get more than a few feet when she heard yelling. She couldn't make out the words, but she knew the voice. For some reason Daryl was close and he was yelling. She knew he had a temper on him so she wasn't surprised, but something seemed odd. Daryl went into the woods earlier this morning, alone, just as she had. His assigned grid was supposed to be on the opposite side of the ravine than everyone else's so why was he close to her and who was he yelling at? Something had to be wrong.

She broke out into a run in the direction of Daryl's voice fearing that he had perhaps encountered walkers and was being attacked. When she found him he looked absolutely deranged. He was covered in blood that was very obviously his own. A gash on his temple was caked in drying blood and his over-shirt was tied around his waist in attempt to stop the bleeding of what was a very serious wound. His chest, arms, and face were covered in dirt and blood and he was wearing what appeared to be a necklace of ears, which she was too afraid to even think about asking him about. Blood surrounded his mouth and coated his teeth and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know why. Anger was apparent in his expression.

"Somethin' wrong with me?" He asked angrily when all she did was stop and stare at him.

"I should be asking you that." She said trying not to let her voice give away how much his state and his anger frightened her. Daryl Dixon was intimidating at the best of times, when he was angry he downright scared her. She always feared angry men.

"Well what the hell do you think, Yankee?" He spat.

Her eyes dropped their gaze to the ground. Being originally from New Jersey she had been called "Yankee" by Daryl quite a few times. He hadn't called her that since his brother went missing weeks ago, though, so she felt a little upset that he would call her that again when all she wanted to do was help him. In fact, she thought he was actually becoming a sweet guy ever since Merle was no longer in the picture, so his words stung her a little.

She was determined to not let him see how he got to her, though, so she picked her gaze back up.

"Are you bit?" she asked softly, her voice betraying the tough façade she sought to display.

He must have noticed the change in her demeanor upon having him insult her and felt bad about it because he stopped glaring at her. "No." he answered her truthfully.

He wouldn't hurt her. He could be a dick sometimes, but he wouldn't hurt her. He was proving himself to be a team player, he wouldn't throw that away by hurting her. She relayed this fact over and over in her mind several times as she walked up to him. Stopping only a few inches from his bloody body.

He stared at her now. She was right in front of him. His mind was reeling. He couldn't figure out what she was doing. He wasn't angry at her, it wasn't her fault he was thrown off the horse and fell down into the ravine. It wasn't her fault that his own crossbow bolt pierced his side, and it wasn't her fault that he almost didn't make it back out of the ravine. He felt bad about having snapped at her as if it was her fault, but now he felt taken aback. What the hell was she doing? Why had she come so close to him? Usually she kept her distance.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled and looked at his feet thinking perhaps she came close to him because she plucked up the courage to yell at him for yelling at her. He went to take a step away from her and almost fell to his knees.

She caught him before he could fall all the way to the ground and risk slipping back down into the ravine they were standing dangerously close to. He looked up at her and she gave a small smile.

"I just want to help, Daryl." she said in response to the questions his brain had been demanding answers to ever since she came over to him. If he didn't know better he would have sworn she knew what he was thinking.

She wrapped his muscular arm around her narrow shoulders so that she could support him as she helped him get back firmly on his feet and led him back to Hershel's farm.