Here we are yet again me starting a new story. Sigh. I just can't stop. I meant to take a break after I got all my current WIPs completed but here we go...again. So this story has been in my head since last winter. I've kept stuffing it on the back burner with the whole "Oh I don't need another story right now" thing. This is a bit different than how the show ran. I don't want to write the same thing over and over or something someone else has done. I've not see this so far as I've read or heard. This is a..uhm re-imagining if you will of some events throughout the The Walking Dead world. I don't want to go into too much detail here and spoil some bigger plot points but I do hope you like this and stick with me through it.

Daryl jerked awake when his boots were kicked. Cracking his eyes open he was met with the face of his brother Merle. He had a serious look on his face that wasn't his usual serious face. Usually he just looked like a severe asshole ready to taunt and torment him but right now he just looked like he meant business. Daryl set up and then pushed himself standing his back aching from how long he'd set on the asphalt. Sweat was making his shirt cling to him and his hair was already soaked through as well, it wasn't even close to lunch time and already he felt the Georgia heat killin' him.

"You planning on sleeping all day or you gonna do something with yourself?"

Daryl opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the loud voice just to his right, "Oh he's gonna do something with himself alright...if ya know what I'm saying." The laugh that followed had him smirking cause he knew without looking what Mac was doing. It dissolved from there into exaggerated moans and Daryl looked over fighting smiling at the face Merle was making. Mac was making quick motions just in front of his groin as he thrusted throwing his head back.

"Something went wrong with you in her fucking pregnancy." Merle snapped.

Daryl snorted and Mac shook his head, "That right there is horse shit brother see now you know it is. Me and Daryl both would be like this if something went wrong and this wasn't right."

Merle looked at Daryl and his face heated up and he wanted away from them both. "Nah he's to delicate that one...always been the sweet one."

Daryl made a face and started walking away. He hated when they both ganged up on him. They were relentless. Grabbing his hunting pack up and his crossbow he shouldered his stuff and looked over seeing both of their faces getting serious. They knew the drill by now. If something came up that they had to move camp to always keep it to the right and follow the natural grade of the land. Not that he would have issues following or tracking but it put them both at ease when he was out of camp alone.

"How long you think you'll be out?" Merle's voice had an edge to it.

Merle tilted his head as Martinez came up handing him more stuff for his pack. "Couple days at the least."

Martinez looked out over the area, "If we need to move I've been looking at this map...the area just west of here has some structures that could be shelter for a while till we figure out things from there."

Daryl nodded and Merle gave him a nod, "Watch your ass out there baby brother."

Mac followed him as he walked to the length of the set up camp and moved towards the woods. They might be two grown ass men but they were closer than most. They had been their entire lives and most of the time it seemed like Merle was more of a father to the two of them then actual brother. He had a good twelve years on them both. With Mac being his twin they were always closer to each other having grown up together while Merle was years ahead of them then in the military. Technically Merle was still military but the world fell to shit so what ever the hell that made him now that's what he was.

"A couple of days?" Mac questioned his eyes going to the woods. "If I get out there with you we could work quicker."

"If you get out here with me you'll scare any big game off and that's what we need Mac." Daryl shook his head shoulder his bow, "I'll be back."

"Fuckin' better be. Don't make me kill you dead."

Daryl snorted, "That makes no fucking sense."

"Makes perfect goddamn sense to me." Mac snapped smiling at him. "Besides I'm pretty sure me and Merle would both agree on beating your ass if you try something stupid."

Daryl moved through the woods the sounds of the woods calming his nerves. He didn't like where they were set up right now. To much shit around for something to happen. To much could go wrong to quick. Merle had wanted to stop and search the pile up though and him and Martinez had been adamant it was necessary. Mac had been pissed and stormed off in a huff and Merle had sent him to keep his hot-headed twin from doing something ignorant. It ended with both getting busted lips for his effort but Mac had calmed down quickly once he realized he'd hit him. Daryl didn't let it go though just like was their normal habit and had knocked the fuck out of him back. Merle wasn't there to split them up this time and it wouldn't have done no good either way.

Daryl lowered himself to the forest floor when things got to silent. The woods were never silent. Never. The only time they ever became so silent that you could hear the wind whistling miles off was when there was predators around. He knew he hadn't moved loud enough or quick enough to startle anything. It wasn't him silencing the woods. Daryl scanned the woods his eyes picking it apart and he found a pair of eyes looking back at him. It was a deer just ahead with its own ears cocked to the side and waiting.

It was directly ahead of him but with the body language and flicking of the tail there was something closer than him. Turning his head but keeping his eye on the doe he looked to where the deers ear was cocked and watched. He could see movement through the trees but not what it was. It was moving to erratic to be any wild life and to quick to be a walker.

At the snap of a stick the doe was off like a shot and Daryl let out a breath. He watched it go for a second before his eyes went back to the person whoever it was had scared of the doe he'd been tracking the last couple of hours. He knew it had to be a living person. He felt his heart hammering in his chest. They hadn't seen anyone in the month since this shit had happened. Him and Mac he knew for sure hadn't not until Merle and Martinez found them but he wasn't so sure about his brother and his friend.

A flash of blue caught his eyes and then he seen it. She burst through the brush and fell hard before scrambling to her feet again a sob escaping her throat. Daryl's eyes widened at the sight and he searched frantically praying the girl wasn't alone. When he seen nothing he stood fluidly but his adrenaline skyrocketed when walkers came through the brush seconds later chasing the girl.

Raising and aiming he quickly dropped one snarling bastard before moving and taking the second down. The sounds of running and crying were loud in his ears and he grabbed his shit and took off. Her trail wasn't hard to find or follow and it took him no time to catch her in the woods. She wasn't use to running or moving in them clearly and he was. He weaved through the trees and brush vaulting over stuff as her cries got closer.

He came to a sudden stop when he seen her trying to climb a tree. She was jumping but couldn't quite get to the limb and her little hands were scrabbling at the bark. Clearing his throat and pulling in lungful of air after running he mentally cursed himself for years of smoking. Shit was going to be the death of him if he didn't fucking quit. A bitter thought that the world had ended and there would be none to buy or pack off soon made itself known and he frowned.

The girl slumped and Daryl cleared his throat again, "You bit?" He kept his voice level as he searched her for marks while keeping a distance from her.

She jumped and spun looking at him her eyes wide and scared. She was looking around for an escape but he was just calmly standing there. He didn't want to do anything that would scare her further but he damn well wasn't leaving a little girl in the woods by herself. He was an asshole but he wasn't the type to leave a kid defenseless and sure as fuck not in this world.

When she realized she had nowhere to go she looked up at him again her eyes watering, "No."The fear in her voice was surreal.

Daryl let out a breath and squatted digging through his pack and pulling out a bottle of water. He held it out to her and she looked at it licking her lips. He sighed, "I aint gonna hurt you kid." She reminded him of the time he'd gotten lost in the woods when he was younger for days on end.

She took a tentative step towards him and he held it out further to her and she took it. She unscrewed and took a deep drink her eyes never leaving him. He let his own scan around them not sure how many of them had followed her or how many more her cries had drawn in.

"Where's your mom kid? How about your dad?" Daryl looked back at her.

She made a noise in her throat, "Ed is dead." Her voice was off and he raised a brow, "My mama was with me but we...there was so many."

Daryl got a sick feeling in his stomach, "She just separated kid?"

"I don't know." Her voice broke his heart and he could hear and feel the pain in her soft small voice.

Daryl nodded his head chewing his lip and looking over his shoulder. He looked back at her and stood up, "You got a name?"

Her large doe eyes looked up at him, "Sophia."