"Mama, when can I move?" the little boy complained as he tugged on the sleeve of the woman who sat by his side. It would have taken only a glance at the two to tell that they weren't related. The boy, eight years old, had thick black hair, dark brown skin and dark brown eyes which were wide and filled with innocence. The woman next to him was nearly the opposite in appearance. Her skin was slightly sun kissed from the amount spent in the sun but far lighter than his was and her hair was a fiery red which stood out from the environment like a sore thumb. There was no physical resemblance whatsoever between the two.

"If you want good food, you got to be patient, Pablo," she said, not even looking away from the area in front of them. They were both hungry and she knew that the fact that he had been sitting still for at least two hours was a miracle. She made a mental note to tell him how thankful she was for his pleasant behavior and how glad she was that he was her companion.

Suddenly she saw the big prize they had been waiting for. "Pablo, look straight ahead," she said, looking through the scope that sat atop of the rifle. She gently squeezed the trigger as she made sure that she was going to hit the right spot. His words echoed in her mind as she aimed: Ya want to get it behind the shoulders. She pulled the trigger and watched as the deer began running. "Why is it running?" Pablo asked, sounding worried that their new source of food was getting away.

"They don't always die right away," she explained, watching as it returned back into sight. "They usually run in circles for a while until they die," she said, pointing at the deer that was now collapsing on to the ground. She looked at Pablo with a wide grin which he returned. "Come, let's go," she said as she stood up, knowing that they had to hurry if they were going to get the good parts off before the Walkers arrived. That was the downside to hunting. The shot was usually loud enough to attract at least all the Walkers within a quarter of a mile sometimes further if they were in a less dense area.

She scurried over to the deer, making sure that Pablo was at her side and she kneeled down.

"Alright Pablo, remember what I taught you?" she questioned as she handed him a sharp knife. He nodded, handling the weapon carefully. She knew that it was terribly irresponsible to hand such a young child such a dangerous weapon but there was really no choice in this situation. He lived in a world where he was in constant danger. Not teaching him how to handle himself would be a massive betrayal to the boy, even if he wasn't aware of it himself. She put the rifle down on the ground and began to get to work as well.

Their actions were almost automatic by now. Sure, the boy had only skinned rabbits before but it was still fundamentally the same thing. She pulled a large plastic bag out of the backpack she carried with her that she used to store their meat in. The last thing they needed was for everything to be soaked in blood. After they skinned it she put as much meat as she could get into the bag before she put the bag into the backpack.

"There's a lot left, mama," the boy pointed out as she took the knife away from him.

"I know, Pablo. We just don't have much more time," she commented, wiping the blood off of her hands on to her jeans. The boy looked at her before following her example.

"Come on now, let's move back to the camp," she said, taking the boy's hand as they began to run. If they were lucky, the deer would serve as a distraction for the Walkers and hopefully it would please them enough for them to not wandering around, searching for more food.

It didn't take them long to get to the camp and lucky for them, they had no run ins with Walkers. The boy retreated into the tent that they had set up, returning to his normal isolated self. She really couldn't blame him for wanting to be alone. Even though they got along almost perfectly, the boy had lost his parents only a few weeks earlier which was enough to cause any child to pull away. Hannah pulled out the plastic bag with the meat in it, only to discover that it had leaked all over her bag.

"For fuck's sake," she muttered to herself frustrated as she pulled out the rest of the contents of the bag, which included a few small boxes of ammo, a pair of socks and a now blood soaked book.

"You never quit with the cussing, do ya?" Hannah looked up from the mess she had discovered. She smiled when she saw the familiar old gentleman.

"Do you see this mess, Henry? I think it deserves a few fucks and shits thrown its way," she said, causing the man to laugh.

Their group was small, only consisting of her, the boy and the old man. Originally it had consisted of a few families but as time went by they slowly disappeared or died, one by one. Pablo's parents had been the last to die. They had faced a rather large herd on the highway and while Henry had coerced both Hannah and Pablo into lying under the corpses of dead Walkers, Pablo's parents had insisted on trying to take down the Walkers. They were so busy playing hero that they had neglected to think about what would happen to their boy if they died.

Being a hero was stupid, at least in Hannah's eyes.

Henry and Hannah began slowly cooking the meat she had managed to gather in the day. It was important to cook all of it right away even if they weren't going to consume it until later on. The longer it stayed uncooked, the likelier the Walkers were to catch the scent of the blood. At first it hadn't occurred to Hannah at all that raw meat was likelier to attract Walkers but since the number of their appearances began to dwindle after they decided to cook the meat right away, she couldn't really deny that Henry had a point.

She had very little knowledge in regards to staying alive out in the wilderness. She credited her survival mostly to one man. She had met him about a year before the dead began walking and if it hadn't been for him, she probably wouldn't have been able to stay alive. Their meeting was one of chance. She had been picking mushrooms out in the forest, trying to get enough to make a decent meal and he had mistaken her for an animal and hadn't it been for her red hair suddenly coming into view, he probably would have shot her on the spot.

She often found herself wondering what had happened to him. Her father had literally pushed her out the door when she spoke of the dead walking, claiming it to be some sort of disrespect on her half. She had gone to their spot in an attempt to find him, only to be picked up by a group of survivors who said that the mountains weren't safe anymore, that they had to go to Atlanta.

While she could as well have mourned the fact that she never really had the chance to explore what could have happened with the man she had decided on celebrating the fact that meeting him had kept her alive. The hours she spent with him, waiting for prey and learning to shoot, those were the ones that had made her a valuable part of the group. At first she hadn't been much good but as time passed and she spent more time hunting and shooting down the dead, she begun to get the hang of it.

"Mama, I'm hungry."

Hannah turned her head to see Pablo partially out of the tent they slept in. She smiled wearily and motioned him to come to her. Slowly the boy crawled out of the tent and took a place next to her. "Here you go son," Henry said, handing the boy a fairly large slice of the deer that had been cooked through. Pablo took it and devoured it almost instantly. Hannah laughed at how greedily the boy had chowed down the deer. She handed him another piece before she resumed cooking.

"Hannah, I'm afraid we can't stay out in the forest forever. We have to find shelter soon," Henry said; his voice filled with concern. The redhead didn't even bother looking up from the meat that was slowly cooking over the fire that they kept lit most of the time. She knew that he was right. They had been in the forest since the incident with Pablo's parents. In fact, they have pretty much been in the same spot the whole time. She had wanted to give Pablo some form of stability after his parents' death and this was the best she had to offer.

"I know, but where will we go? How long are we going to have to walk before we find some sort of house to reside in?" she finally questioned, looking up from the fire and at the old man.

"Well keep on heading South. Go to Florida if we have to," he said.

"We went to Florida on vacation once," Pablo suddenly said catching the attention of both Hannah and Henry.

"Yeah?" Hannah said with a sympathetic smile. "What did you do in Florida?"

"We went to Disneyland," he replied with a smile. "Me and papa went on all the rides we could find but mama-" he suddenly paused and his eyes began to water up slightly. He cleared his throat and forced another smile. "She was afraid of the rides so she waited for us," he said, his voice shaky by the end. Hannah reached out and put a hand on Pablo's back, gently rubbing up and down.

"I miss them," Pablo said, his voice becoming shakier with each word. He looked at Hannah and the tears began to fall. "Do you think-" he hiccupped slightly. "Do you… Do you think she's mad that I call you- hic- mama?" he asked before breaking out into sobs. Hannah's heart ached at the sight of the boy crying. He often tried to play it off while they were awake but she heard him cry in the nights and she didn't blame him. He had watched as his parents were killed by Walkers and he had watched as Henry had shot them down when they came back as Walkers.

"No I don't think she's mad at you," she said, pulling the boy into her arms and caressing his hair. "She knows that you just miss having her around."

It had been alarming at first when he began to call her mama. She had thought it was some sort of delusional way of coping. Pretending that she was his mother. But as time passed she noticed that he still spoke of his mother as a separate person. Henry had assured her that he just needed someone to become a surrogate mother, of some sorts. Being the only female around, Hannah had of course been the obvious choice. She wasn't replacing his mother, she was just becoming his new one.

"She knows that you need a mama to watch out for you," she whispered, her own eyes filling up with tears. Pablo's arms wrapped around her neck as he buried his face into the valley that was between her shoulder and her neck. Slowly his sobs began to quiet down and his hiccups became less frequent. By the time he finally quit crying, Henry had finished cooking the rest of the meat and he packed it into the duffle bag where most of their food was kept.

"How about we head out tomorrow? Try and find a house to stay at?" Hannah suggested, looking down at Pablo who had finally let go of her. The boy nodded hesitantly. She looked at Henry who smiled in a melancholic manner.

"How about you two get some sleep? You've been out all day trying to get us some food. You must be tired," Henry suggested. Pablo nodded before looking at Hannah. Truth be told, she was more hungry than tired but Henry was right. They had to get some sleep now if they were going to head out tomorrow.

"Wake me up when you're ready to sleep," she said as she climbed into the tent with Pablo.

"You can count on it," Henry promised as the tent was zipped shut. He grabbed the shotgun he had been using to keep himself alive and he took a seat on a stump that conveniently doubled as a chair. He could hear soft whispers coming from the tent where Hannah and Pablo resided and a small smile crawled on to his lips. He hadn't thought much of the girl when he had first seen her. Her dirty face and bloodstained clothes were red flags in his eyes and the fact that she would swear a lot had caused him to dislike her.

But the more time he spent with her, he grew to appreciate her. She showed everyone respect and she did her best to keep the morale up. He had become especially impressed with her after the kid's parents had died in a futile attempt to take down the Walker herd. She had taken to the kid well, allowing him to call her mama and allowing him to follow her wherever she went. He had been sure that she would have been unable to handle someone depending on her like the boy did but she had treated him as if she truly were his mother.

Sighing he began surveying the area, his shotgun ready in hand. He had to at least stay out for a few hours so that the girl could get a few moments of shuteye.

He had done it again, angered the group by telling them exactly what he thought. Hell, it wasn't his fault that that dumb girl couldn't shut up and it sure as hell wasn't his fault that her whining could attract close by Walkers. So what if her boyfriend didn't make it through? They had all lost someone in this damn apocalypse, she wasn't the only one. They had lost Amy, Dale, Sophia… Hell, most of them more use to the group than whatshisname had been. If Daryl had chosen to be a little bitch every time he lost someone he liked they would have been long dead.

He wasn't going to take their shit, their accusatory gazes. He could have sworn he heard Maggie whispering to Beth that he didn't mean it. He sure as hell meant it. He had walked a deal away from their current camp and now leaned against a tree, sharpening the newly crafted arrows he had created earlier. He heard some twigs snap from behind him and leaves crunching under someone's feet.

"Go away," he said loudly, not exactly in a talkative mood.

"Daryl, that was a lil' harsh."

Just what he needed, mother hen coming over to take care of him. He understood that she lost her baby, but she had been coming on so strong trying to watch over him. He didn't need any pity from her and her certainly didn't need her to tell him whether he was being hard on someone or not. "I don't give a fuck. She's inviting the whole damn neighborhood over for dinner with her whinin'," he retorted, going around the tree so he was facing Carol. She had this look of pity on her face, which usually bothered Daryl but since it was meant for Beth it didn't irritate him as much.

"Daryl, have you ever been in love?"

Her question caught him off guard. He knew exactly what she meant by asking that question. She was trying to indicate that if he thought of being in love, he would understand why Beth was wailing like a trapped cat. Carol's eyes were fixated on him, begging him to understand. "Maybe this one time," he answered dryly. "Gone 'n done in the past. Don't see me whinin' about it loud enough for the Walkers to hear," he added, not wanting to think about the matter anymore.

"Imagine losing that person to Walkers, Daryl. Even if you wouldn't cry about it like Beth does, it would still hurt," Carol said, trying to persuade him into feeling sorry for the girl.

"Piss off, Carol! I don't feel nuthin' for the girl. We all lost someone to the Walkers," he snapped, causing Carol to retreat. He could hear her slowly stepping away, saying something under her breath while she was at it. He was thankful that he couldn't hear what she was saying. He didn't want to hear any of it. He was tired of her acting like he was some sort of soft-hearted hero. He did what everyone else wanted to do when Sophia went missing. The only difference between him and the others was that he was too stubborn to accept that fact that she had just died. Now Carol was going about, acting as if he was a saint or somethin', even going as far as saying that he had honor and that he should be the one leading the group. Trying to make sure that he was doing okay.

"Can take fucking care of myself," he muttered as he resumed sharpening the arrows. "Don't need no mama hen to protect me."

A/N: yes, I'm doing another Daryl/OC. I won't be quitting either story though and I'll try to update daily. This one is obviously going to be a bit different from A Simple Twist of Fate but I hope it won't be of any lesser quality! I apologize for the shortness of the first chapter! The second one is longer, I promise!