A/N: I am so sorry for such a long wait, I promise it'll never be this long again. Just been having a major computer hormone issue, but I did make it an extra long chapter!. Anywho, I want to thank each and every one of my reviewer's for their reviews. They were great and some very helpful, I really do appreciate that and hope to get more in this chapter.

Just watched the episode with Daryl's few close calls and halucinations, really hoping I can throw that in this story a bit cause it was a major point in his life. Totally thought he was going to die! I actually wanted to cry and yell and my TV.

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"It's defiantly a bullet shot, she's not infected but she's in pretty bad shape" Andrea said as she came out of the Winnebago, the front of her shirt and hands splattered and stained with blood. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun and sweat drenched her forehead from the heat. Throwing away the used bandages she came to sit down beside Lori who was washing the groups clothing in a barrel with an old washboard.

"Is she going to be okay?" Rick asked, the first to speak among the rest of the concerned campers. For most of the previous daylight hours everyone had been worried for the new sudden addition to their camp. Wiping her forehead and taking a gulp of cold water she turned to them "The bullet managed to only knick her side, missing anything vital, she should be okay but she needs food and constant monitoring"

Rick let out a sigh along with his wife, finding someone else alive and well gave everyone a small sort of hope and saving her gave them a small amount of their humanity back. "She's out cold now but I reckon she'll wake soon, till then we should get something to eat" Andrea said her eyes glancing at Daryl who already knew he was about to be sent on a hunting trip whether he wanted to or not.

"What are we going to do with her?" The question caught everyone off guard as they all turned to look at Shane sitting against a nice, sleek, silver SUV. "What do you mean Shane?" Rick asked, a small hope he wouldn't voice what he knew Shane was thinking. "You've got to be kidding me? We have enough problems on our hands without having to take care of a dying girl in the process, we should just grab what we can and leave before more walkers show" he said twirling his gun between his fingers with a sick expression on his face. Everyone in camp turned to his disgusted or astonished that he had said that.

"We don't have much of a choice man" T-Dog said while he sat down in one of the busted lawn chairs around the fire.

"To hell we don't have a choice, you all heard Andrea she's in bad shape, were fooling ourselves if we think we can save her"

"Shane, we can't leave her here, where would that leave us as people, when we could save her" Lori argued, jumping into the fight and speaking for everyone else around her. Shane just chuckled humourlessly, "We already have too many people, travelling in such a big group is dangerous" he argued some more, he had obviously been drinking as he swayed slightly from left to right as he walked.

"It's going to be fine, it's not your concern anyways, were taking her in and were helping her out, It's plain to see that the people she was travelling with are dead and she's alone, were not leaving her out here like this" Rick said standing up against his friend. He didn't know why Shane suddenly started to act this way, he had always been a kind loving guy before. "Yeah man, how heartless can you get" T-dog said throwing in his piece since normally what he said went ignored by the group.

"Guys would' a shut up for's minute, n'listen" Daryl said silencing the arguing group before him, sometimes he didn't understand why he stayed here. As there voices came to a stop they could hear someone violently coughing in the back of the Winnebago. Rick and Lori jumped up first to go and check it out leaving the rest of the group to silently glare at each other.


Sitting up in the small cluttered bed, sheets fallen to pool around her legs, was the bandaged up stranger they had just been arguing about. Her pale blue and faded eyes snapped to attention at the sound of a door hitting a wall and footsteps coming towards her. The image of two people she didn't recognize coming into view. In an attempt to get away from them she tried to move from her spot, which resulted in sending a wave of pain through her body. "We didn't mean to scare you, were here to help" Rick said trying his best to sound calm and serene so as not to scare her anymore then she already was.

The girls eyes darted back and forth between the two vague figures standing over her like a foreboding doom. "Oh my" Lori whispered, her hand covering her mouth, as she noticed the pupils of the girls blue eyes clouded like a sky with a permanent storm.

"My names Rick Grimes and this here is my Wife Lori, we found you and brought you to our camp, your badly injured and need help" Rick said, it came in handy being a cop before this. Having this instinct on how to talk to people, whether they were scared or delusional. He knew the right words, the right tone, being a father of a little boy helped in the matter; giving him the ability of compassion towards people that deserve it.

The girl seemed to be processing this newly found out information as she seemed to have calmed down a little, yet not enough to assume she trusted them any more then she did a few minutes ago. "Where's Jason?" It was the first time they had heard her speak. Her voice was hoarse, dry from lack of water or nutrition and she sounded so scared, terrified that this was her last few minutes. Lori and Rick looked at each other uneasily, she didn't know them one bit and they were about to tell her something that could potentially send her back into hysterics.

"Your camp was attacked, you were the only one we found"

Silence. The girl seemed to have shut down momentarily like a computer going into hibernation mode. Memories started to fill her head all at once, the blood, screaming, gun shots and then pain all she really remembered was the sudden pain she had felt and the feeling of falling into darkness. Once again the waves of hurt hit her full force making her wince and gasp, her hand coming to her side where the two could see blood seeping through her shirt once again.

"You need to lay down, your bleeding and you need help" Lori said looking at the girl, with a tone that wasn't about to be crossed.

10 minutes had gone by and the two had finally finished getting her to calm down and allow them to fix up her side. The girl herself hadn't said a word the whole time, seeming to have given up with fighting them. However, she knew she was somewhat safe, if these people were going to hurt her they wouldn't of gone through all this trouble to help her.

"Here, drink this sweetie" Lori said, the one Kayla remembered had long dark brown hair only slightly lighter then her own. Kayla had gotten fairly good at catching and remembering certain features on people her eyes allowed her to see; hair colour, skin colour, and if close enough their eye colour. It helped her defer to who she was looking for.

The water almost burned as it trickled down her dry throat but the pleasure to have cold water erased the soreness from her mind as she gulped it down greedily. "Why are you helping me?" The question took the two off guard; before she had been yelling, scared and tired, now she sounded slightly defeated but hopeful and that was a good sign. Lori patted the girls knee slowly not to scare her, "because you need it" and that was as good as an answer anyone could ever give out anymore.


Two or more hours passed and the daylight hours were finally leaving them, Dale checking his beloved watch to see the time read 8:00. Daryl had gone hunting, catching himself a small deer near the river bank, which feed the group well that night. Carl and Sophie were roasting marshmallows Rick had grabbed from a convenience store a while back which put a smile on their tiny faces. Glenn and T-Dog counted and stored supplies while Carol and Lori finished the washing process that had been left unattended. Rick had volunteered himself to bring some food to the girl in the camper who refused to speak to anyone anymore. But they didn't blame her, putting themselves in her shoes, you wouldn't speak either.

"Here, I brought you some food" Rick said passing the girl a plate which she took silently, she felt uncomfortable taking their food but her hunger succumbed to changing her mind on the matter. "So you feel like talking now?" he said after sitting down on the far end of the bed just below her feet. The girl remained silent. "At least tell me your name, so everyone can stop calling you the new kid"

He hadn't expected her to say anything but to be honest she had a knack for surprising people, "Kayla" she said between bites of food and swallowing down more water. She found it funny that something so insignificant as a name had so much of an affect to the strange man, almost as if he expected she would jump right into the story book of her life just because he knew her.

"See now that wasn't so hard now was it" Rick said with a soft chuckle as the girl rolled her eyes at him and returned to her plate of food.

Neither Rick nor Lori had told the rest of the group about the girl's obvious condition yet, they were worried it would get out of hand. Especially with the camp already doubting their survival rate after their last few weeks of traveling from Atlanta.

"This is a real personal question Kayla and I mean no offence bringing it up but I need to know" he started but the girl was smart and she had apparently heard this sentence before because she answered him with exactly what he wanted to know, "I'm not blind, I can still see…..just not as well as you can" she answered placing the empty plate on the bed sheets.

"And don't go giving me any pity for it, I've had it my whole life and learned to deal with it" she said before her head snapped to the direction of the door to see the blurred image of a small kid who looked similar to one she knew before. Jake…

"Carl, go back outside by your mother please" and without a word the boy turned to leave, hearing his fathers order. "How many of you are there?" Kayla asked the curiosity getting the best of her; being silent wasn't going to get her any answers even if she felt like never speaking again.

"Eleven, not counting you" he said with a smile as the girls left thin black eyebrow raised. Eleven… until now Kayla thought there was no one left out there. Rick looked downward his fingers drumming rhythmically on his thigh as he thought. He could tell just by looking at her that this girl had, had it rough and it wasn't getting no better for her and even though he knew she obviously had walls just like anyone else in her predicament would have he also knew; deep down, she wanted help and by damn she was going to get it.

"What happened to you?" Rick asked cautiously as he glanced down at her side now covered with a fresh bandage and new clean shirt.

"Ain't important, don't want to talk about it" Kayla replied, avoiding detail as much as she could. The last thing she needed was a full-blown recounting to make her relive everything she didn't want to have spilled out on the plate in front of her. Rick knew he wasn't going to get much of anything more, her walls were up and she wasn't going to let him touch them. It was a person's best defence mechanism.

He cocked his head to the side in analyzing her from a distance, noticing things him nor Lori had noticed on her before. They had been to preoccupied with the bullet wound to observe much else about the girls body.

Bruises; dark purple one with a grotesque yellow-ish tinge indicating they were older ones behind recent ones. Yet these bruises were different from the normal everyday ones you get from running into things or falling down. These ones stood out in Rick's mind, he had seen this kind of bruising pattern before. These bruises matched, long distinct bruises on each of her thighs laying uncovered by the blankets she had forgotten about; large ones just on the outside of her legs that all but screamed finger marks. If that wasn't enough to make his blood boil, add in multiple cuts and scars, some older, some newer. They were more then enough to send a sick, tightening feeling, grasping around his heart as it dropped.


"What is it Babe?" Lori asked softly. His arm going around her protectively like he never wanted her out of his sight ever again. Carl and Sophie had already been put to bed in the tent between the RV and the truck leaving the grown ups to talk.

"Her names Kayla" he said feeling they needed to know her name, it gave her more of a humanistic personality that went along with human thinking. "She's fine now, should probably be up and moving by tomorrow" he continued not even grazing the main problems. Everyone else gave a soft smile as the worry left them, well not everyone, Shane stood with indifference and Daryl didn't smile.

"There's more" Dale accused staring at the solemn face of the former cop. They needed to know the truth, it was only fair to them to know what was going on. Rick took in a large breath, "Well, she has a problem with her eyesight, she's not blind but she can't see as nearly as good as we can", it was out and there was no going back now.

"You have got to be kidding me, were taking care of a dying, BLIND girl now" Shane said disbelievingly at what his best friend had just divulged to the rest of the group. "You can't be serious in the thinking we can take her with us"

"She's a human being, and by damn were going to treat her like one, you want more of a reason fine, she has bruises and cuts all up her leg and I can tell you now there not from falling over". Everyone suddenly became very quiet as they all took in and processed what they had just been told, thinking and trying to imagine the life this girl must have had before they had found her.

"Your going to get us all killed with your pathetic caring and compassion" Shane hollered alarming the group. "Shut it, or every walker in the city'll hear us" Daryl commented dryly as the argument continued around what he said.

"Shane, were helping the girl no matter she can see or not, go to bed and get some rest" Rick ordered sternly a look in his eyes that meant if Shane refused they would get him to bed their way. Shane grumbled out something incoherent as he stumbled his way towards his truck where he slept away from the group.

"Thank you" Lori whispered in her husbands ear before giving him a warm kiss, he always had such a big heart and would fight for anyone who needed it. "I can't even imagine, that poor girl" Dale said after making sure Shane did indeed retire to his truck. The last thing they needed was him wandering off like a pissed off teenager. "I know, It's a miracle that she was the survivor of her group" Glenn said shivering at the thought of the scene they had parked by for the night.

"Anyways, we leave tomorrow, it's to dangerous to stay here for an extended amount of time" Rick said getting up and helping his wife to her feet. "T-Dog you have first watch then I" - "No I take it, you had it last time" Daryl intervened, grabbing up his beloved weapon of choice and strapping it to his back.

Rick was about to argue since he knew Daryl had supervised the camp site more then any off them combined but his wife tugging at his sleeve changed his mind. "Thank you" he said only receiving a grunt from the Dixon before he turned to get into his own tent on the other side. "Good night T-Dog" they said before everyone went their way for the night.


The early sun ascended into the morning sky lighting up the land and stretching far out ,casting long shadows on the ground. A few birds hiding in the broken down cars started their morning song as they took off into the warming air. Narrowing down to the highway the familiar old Winnebago comforted the still sleeping campers of the night. Except for one, an early riser that had; with much difficulty, found her way out of the vehicle she slept in and across the concrete floor without waking the fellow campers. Her finger tips following along the edge of the cars, the hazy sightings of the large and recognizable RV she use to live in. The memories of that night still fresh in her mind where it would remain forever.

Standing there staring at the large vehicle she didn't think she could or even wanted to move further. Looking down to her feet where the images of the walkers that had attacked lay on the ground, giving off a stench that made her stomach turn.

"What'cha doin' out here"

The sudden voice had caught her off guard, being to cooped up in her own head she hadn't heard anyone come up behind her. Reflexes taking into effect her arm lashed out to hit whomever was behind her, however, they saw it coming. Her small wrist landed between a strong grip, large fingers wrapping around to hold her in place.

Daryl Dixon stood there staring at the small girl with a small amount of surprise that she had reacted so fast and effectively. If he hadn't been who he was and been anyone else she would of smacked him right across the jaw. The top of her head came to about the level of his chin giving her and estimated height of 5.6; not short but the shortest of the group besides the little ones. "Didn't mean ta scare ya" he commented stepping closer to the girl he had carried to the Winnebago when they first found her. She defiantly looked a lot different cleaned up and in washed clothing, he could almost go as far as saying she was quite pretty, for a apocalyptic blind girl anyways.

He dropped her hand from his grip and she brought it back to her side looking over him suspiciously, she could tell even though not clearly that this man was fairly muscular but at the same time not big enough to scare her. "S'fine, I was just-" she stopped and turned back to the RV, she guessed the man belonged to the caravan of people that had took her in.

"I'm sure Grimes will let'ya grab what ya need from in there, Ain't safe wandering around" Daryl commented not really sure why he bothered with it, guess he felt a little bad for the fact the poor girl couldn't see.

The girl sighed, her long brown, tangled hair blowing around her in the wind before she turned to face him again and confused look plain to see on her face. "Come on, I'll help ya back" he said with a grunt as he brought his right arm towards her. She looked at him for a minute, her pale, stormy eyes suspicious before she gave in to the kind gesture. Her small pale hand grabbing on to his tan, strong arm as he steered her the way back to camp.

She had guessed by now that the guy; Rick Grimes, the one that had taken care of her, had told the rest of their group of her condition, it was only fair seeing as she kind of just landed herself in their care even if she didn't want to be there and she hoped would be for to long.


Did I keep the others in character? What do you think of Kayla's condition? Was the imagery good? Bad? And anything else you think is review and tell me what you think. It would be the best ever! Even if it's just a small UPDATE! or a full length paragraph, i love them all! All you have to do is just press that button down there and make me smile...or contemplate my mistakes! XP

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Preview: "So, what did you do before this?", the question had obviously caught her off guard and for a moment you could see an emotion of pain flicker in those strange faded before they were masked and she let out a grunt of irritation.