AN: I decided to go back and revamp the story, it's the same general plot, just put together a little nicer.

The forest would never have been so still before. Apart from the crunching of his own boots, Daryl Dixon heard nothing; not the rustling of animals or the fluttering of birds, not even the dreaded shuffle of the undead and certainly not the cautious steps of a scared little girl. The sun was growing ever lower in the sky and he knew he would be forced to turn back if he didn't find Sophia soon. He crept through the woods stealthily, looking for any sign or any sound that may lead him to the missing child and finally, one came.

"But Aunt Beau I don't want to eat squirrels, they're animals. Can't we just have chicken nuggets?" Dinah whined. Beau rolled her eyes and smiled.

"We don't have any chicken nuggets, Dee. And anyway chickens are animals too, so it looks like you'll be chowing down on that salad your mama is fixing." Beau replied. The little girl scrunched up her face. By "salad" she meant the bowl full of assorted plants and flowers which Lily had deemed edible. They were not particularly tasty, but if it was dahlia tubers or starvation, the group would just have to choke it down and thank their lucky stars they had food at all. Beau smiled at the girl and ruffled her hair. "Maybe Raif will bring back some duck, that's kind of like chicken. Now you go get that pot and some oil from the car, okay?"

"Okay!" She replied, eager to help. As she scurried away Beau began quickly skinning the squirrels. She had trapped and killed about half a dozen around camp and with Lily's flowers and whatever Raif brought back, they'd be feasting this night.

As the sun sank on the horizon, Beau figured it must be just after 6 o'clock, right around the time Raif was expected to return. She had heard neither screams nor the baying of the dogs, so she felt little worry for his safety. Beau finished up dressing the squirrels at the picnic table quickly; she had always been a fast skinner but in her present situation it was best to get the bloody job done and clean up before the scent attracted any unwelcome guests. She looked over her shoulder to check on Dinah, who was still excitedly looking for the precious little oil they had. She may not have liked squirrels but self respecting Southerner loves fried food. Beau brought the squirrels to the creek to rinse them along with her bloodied hands but a blood curdling scream caused her to drop them on the shore and whip out the silenced gun from her waistband.

"Mommymommymommymommymommy!" Dinah shrieked. There was a walker, a girl child a bit older than Dinah, the little girl of some long dead souls and maybe even an angel in life, quickly staggering towards her. Beau couldn't allow herself to feel remorse as she fired at the approaching devil hitting it in the head. Dinah bolted to her aunt, leaping into her arms and sobbing. This was the closest they had gotten to her since they left Raleigh.

"Baby? Baby where are you?" Lily cried frantically, running in from the surrounding woods, Raif and the dogs close on her tail. Beau passed the child to her mother who held her close and kissed her hair. "Were you bit, baby? You have to tell Mommy if you were."

"Don't worry , I shot it before it got too close." Beau told her as she clicked the safety and tucked her piece back into the front of her jeans.

"What happened?" Raif asked after he caught his breath. He had a goose and two ducks slung over his neck and the dogs at his feet were eyeing them hungrily.

"A walker, a little one. It came out of nowhere and started after Dinah so I shot it. I haven't seen or heard any signs of others. She probably died and reanimated here in the woods." Beau explained as calmly as she could. It was a front, but they couldn't all sit around shaking in fear. Someone had to be in control and for some reason it was her. She took the kills and brought them to the table to pluck. "Now how about you bury the body and I finish up cooking."

"Yeah, right." He replied, visibly shaken.

The squirrels had grown to gamey for human consumption after sitting on the creek bank, much to the delight of the three dogs on the camp, but the goose and ducks were still good and the bowl of greens Lily had collected seemed more tolerable than usual. Despite the run in earlier, it was shaping up to be a relatively pleasant evening, at least as pleasant as realistically possible. After dinner Dinah curled up against Saxon, a large bloodhound mix as her mother told her a story while Raif and Beau cleared the table and washed the utensils in the creek.

"You know, sometimes it's almost like camping out here," Raif said as he scrubbed the pot.

"Yeah, except for the fact that you can never go home and the walking dead are out to kill you." Beau replied. Raif ignored her. He was seventeen and still firmly believed he'd one day be able to return to Batesville and watch the fireworks over the lake on the Fourth of July. He finished his share of the cleaning in silence and headed back to camp. Beau sighed and quickly finished hers before lifting it all up in a towel and carrying it back as well. The snap of a twig made her spin around, weapon drawn, but there was no one behind her. She looked around cautiously but saw nothing. She tucked the gun back into her waistband and continued on her way to the fire pit. She didn't have time to cry out for help when a dirty hand was slapped over her mouth.

"Don't scream."

Beau bit down hard on the fingers restraining her and screamed as loud as she could. Within seconds Raif and Lily were there, locked and loaded and aiming at her attacker. The man backed up off her and Beau turned around to look him in the eye, pointing her piece at him as well. He was dirty and disheveled with a crossbow on his back and a scowl on his face.

"Who are you?" She demanded. For a man with three guns on him he didn't seem very frightened.

"Daryl Dixon. I'm lookin' fer a little girl went missin' around here about a week ago." He answered. "I ain't aimin' to hurt no one, I just want to bring her home to her ma."

Beau and Lily lowered their weapons but Raif kept his locked on the man.

"Well Daryl Dixon, you could have said that before scaring the living shit out of me." Beau said. "I'm Beau Ghislaine, that's Raif Curtis and Lily Logan, she's got a little girl of her own who is hiding in the car absolutely petrified right now."

"Like I said, I ain't aimin' to hurt anyone here," Daryl growled. His eyes were locked on the younger man. "So I'd appreciate it if you'd get that gun off me 'less you plan on firin' it."

Raif looked to Beau before lowering his piece. She nodded and he put it away in his holster.

"Where are your people , Atlanta? The CDC?" She asked.

"Hell no, Atlanta is infested and the CDC got blown to shit weeks ago," he told her. "There's a farm a few miles from here, we've been staying there."

Beau had known about Atlanta, thanks to Raif, but the CDC came as a surprise to her. They were supposed to head there next. A sudden feeling of dread washed over her. She looked to Lily and knew she was thinking the same thing.

"You said you're looking for a girl, what did she look like?"

"Blonde, about that tall, 11 years old. Her name's Sophia. You seen her?"

"I took out a walker earlier, a little girl. I couldn't tell what color her hair was with all the blood and muck in it. I'd need a picture of her to know for sure. We buried her over in the bushes."

Daryl looked down. He had been counting on bringing her home to Carol alive. He hadn't even allowed himself to consider the possibility of her being dead or worse. He wiped his face before speaking.

"Well her mama's got plenty of pictures of her. I can bring you to her."

Well here is the new and improved first chapter, tell me what ya'll think c: