Authors Note:

So, Neila is back guys! Thank-you for your patience in waiting for this chapter, hope you like it!

This one is for everyone supporting my story, you know who you guys are ;) there is alot more Neila still to come!

hope you ENJOY!

~Nia

'AW! What in th' fucks?'

I thought as I opened my eyes.

I closed them again swiftly, pulling my hand to my head, nursing my forehead with my hand in the hope that it would help the pain.

The sun that had fluttered through my vision for that split second had made my head ache more.

I was trying to make sense of what had happened.

I tried opening my eyes again, trying my best to ignore the pain. I was in a tent..it wasn't mine; I could tell by the colour that filtered through the tent, illuminating the light around me. The sun was hitting the outside of the tent hard. It kept surging pain through my head.

I saw a blur of blue cloth. It was someone pressing a cold towel to my head.

My eyes closed, embracing the comfort that came with the coolness of the cloth that had been soaked in water. It acted as a shot of penicillin to a nasty infection; ridding the pain for moments, before the shots through my head began again.

It then registered in my head that I didn't know who this person was.

My eyes shot open, panicked. The woman who was holding the cloth to my tanned head appeared to be startled by my sudden defense, retracting her hand from the cloth as if it had burnt her.

I squinted my eyes, swinging my legs over the bed and sitting up. Everything became blurry and the cloth fell to the ground.

"Slow down, slow down, you don' want to hurt yourself any more.." Her Georgia accent was thick in her voice. She placed a friendly hand on my shoulder, steadying me.

I felt the bed underneath me move to my right as she sat down beside me.

I looked over to her. My sharp vision was beginning to re-appear. Her features were slowly becoming clearer to me as I focused. I looked at her kind eyes, studying them for any malice or ill intention.

'Thank-goodness' I thought. 'At least its not squirrel hunter and Merle'

I sighed slightly at the relief, letting that thought comfort me for a few moments, before my old suspicions about people crept up on me again.

"Wha' happened?" my voice was groggy. I could hear it sounding harsh and unpleasant.

"Sun stroke" the woman looked away and down to the ground awkwardly. "It was pretty bad by the looks of things. Y'must have gone a while in this heat withou' water. You collapsed. When you got here"

"How long was ah' out?" I squinted my eyes again as I spoke. The sun was taking its toll on my head again.

"Two days.."

I sighed as I heard her Georgia accent tug at her words. Her eyes showed signs of of concern as I looked over to her.

This made my suspicions arise again.

Who was this woman?

I didn't know her and yet she appeared concerned about me.

I studied the small petite woman. She wore a light beige t-shirt that appeared floral and little girl like. Her slightly graying hair was cut short. Her khaki pants were a dark brown. She was tiny and looked as though she couldn't hurt a fly.

That was a dangerous place to be in this world.

It was the bruises at the top of her arm that startled me most about this woman. They were blue and quite clearly fresh. They were 3 bruises right next to each other, just below the beige t-shirt that cut off just below her shoulder. This woman appeared to be in her late 30's, though she looked older than she probably was. Anyone looking at her would think she was late 40's.

She intrigued me. What caused this woman to age well before her time?

Maybe I was wrong about this woman and I was under estimating her. My observant mind was clearly still recovering from its battle with the sun.

"PHHT, what is she to you? Get th' hell outta' there Neila" The voice in my head sure as hell didn't take long to reappear.

Last time I ignored it, I didn't end up being hurt by the hicks..maybe it was time to start ignoring my paranoid mind. This woman appeared friendly enough after all.

I looked down, cursing myself for being so weak. I stood, the headache from earlier still predominant and throbbing.

I swayed to my left a little before regaining my balance.

Someone had take off my boots and placed them at the edge of the tent. I still considered darting for them and running.

I didn't see my rifle around.

And I sure as hell was not going to get very far without it.

On the other hand, this woman had shown me nothing but good intentions so far, and I didn't want to offend her.

I turned and held my hand out to the woman as a gesture of a proper greeting.

"m' Neila..wha's yer name?" I tried my best to give a friendly smile to the woman.

She appeared to be a little intimidated my my friendliness as her green eyes widened a little.

Or maybe I was imagining it and it was just the southern harshness that always seemed to be predominant and overwhelming in my voice.

She stood up as well, smiling at me that appeared to have genuine written all over it.

"Carol.." She took my hand giving it a feeble shake.

"Wha' happened to yer arm?" My brows furrowed together quizzically. I was trying to be as kind and friendly as possible. Maybe it was showing.

Though, she still appearered a little unsure of me.

"It was just..uhm..clumsiness.." She smiled lightly.

Somehow I didn't believe a word of that. You don't get 3 bruises on your upper arm from just being clumsy..

I raised an eyebrow, beginning to sift though the possibilities in my head.

"Whatever, not yer business Neila" the voice in my head spoke to me again.

It was for the first time I had noticed that the clothes I had put on yesterday had been neatly folded in a corner beside where my boots lay.

I was wearing difference clothes. That means someone had undressed me.

"You should come meet th' others" Carol said still smiling at me. She was obviously trying to distract the conversation from her bruises.

"Sure..Let me jus' get my boots on" I replied, standing and walking to the canvas chair in the corner of the tent.

The tent was small, but appeared to have more than just my belongings inside it.

"Who else shares this tent?" I looked at Carol quizzically as I sat on the canvas chair and bent down, putting my boots on. She might not have realized it, but I still had all eyes on her.

My senses were becoming alive again.

"Oh..Glenn said you could share his tent with him. No need to worry he's a nice boy. I will introduce you to him" Her smile grew wider.

The though of a stranger sleeping in the same proximity as me while I was unconscious was somewhat unsettling.

I had my own tent, no matter how nice this boy 'Glenn' was I was pitching my own tent.

"who in th' hells ar' these people to be nice ta me?" My voice in my head thought. It was becoming distracting.

Maybe they were nice people, reasoned with the voice.

I looked up to Carol once my boots were on and my laces were tucked in, stood once again, feeling less wabbly on my feet this time.

"After' ya" I motioned for Carol to leave and I intended to follow closely behind.

Before leaving the tent, I studied my appearance.

I had my green combats on and a tank shirt that fitted my slim body nicely. I had a checked shirt over the top, the beiges bringing out my features nicely. I ran my fingers through my long hair.

My blue eyes went back to the door of then tent that Carol had already walked though.

"Off to meet the rest of the squirrel killers a' guess it is then Neila.." I cured the voice in my head as I followed a few seconds behind Carol, moving the cloth from the tent to my right so I could move outside.

As I stepped out, the sun was harshly beating down on the ground. It was still covered with bark that had peeled from the trees through the fall.

I squinted my eyes, the sun still making them ache

I looked around, we were situated at the top of the dirt track. That was one of the last things I remember. It was coming back to me now

The trees around the tent I had just left were glinting in the sun. The green's and forest feeling comforting me. It was the familiarity and comfort that I had adopted in the past months.

The forest was my home now. It kept me safe. That was all I needed and it was coming harder and harder to find in the new world.

I inhaled deeply, smelling the woody, outdoors air. It soothed me slightly.

There were trees surrounding the camp from all directions, but it appeared that these people had set up in a logical and safe place far enough away from the city.

The sun was the strongest in the middle of the camp, where a few longs were situated together. There were tree's surrounding the camp, secluding it in a circle, though the dirt path ran right up to edge of camp.

There were a few trucks and cars parked down the path.

The logs in the middle of the camp, surrounded by tents on the outskirts reminded of all those stories you heard of summer camp. The children sitting around the fire, sharing stories and singing 'kumbaya'.

Not that I knew what summer camp involved. My father had been too busy drinking his life away to bother filling the forms out.

I scanned the faces that began to look up as I walked closer to the cozy center of camp.

My step was cautious and my eyes were darting around watching everything.

The man I remember from the previous days before looked down from the top of the RV and smiled. The RV was a creme colour and looked old. There was an umbrella pitched at the top of it. The man looked as old as the RV, if not older. His white hair and wrinkles were predominant even from this distance. Even so, I smiled back up at him.

I noticed the vultures move in on the new meat in camp. I scanned around, noticing that nearly everyone was look up at me.

That was when the other man I remembered approached me once again.

He was tall, muscly and tanned. Tall as well, he made me feel small in comparison to his build, I imagine he would have been touching 6"2. He had dark hair that was well trimmed.

I decided he was good looking. He had an air of authority about him and I decided he must be the leader of these people as he had been the first to approach me on two occasions now.

He wore a dark blue "King Country's Sheriff's Dept." t-shirt with the logo on the top left corner. It covered his well built muscles and looked a little too small. It clung tight to his chest and I couldn't help but smirk at the irony of a cop leading these people when the end of the world came.

"We were beginning to worry the Dixon's had drugged you up or something" His Georgia accent was strong through his words.

I smirked in response.

"Damn...are all of y'all from roun' here? Seems to be no place for someone of my origin at the en' of th' worl'" The deputy smiled back at me, quite clearly picking up on my Mississippi accent straight away.

"Com' meet everyone" he nodded his head in the direction of the logs, where people began to gather. I looked into his dark eyes, still deciding to keep my playful tone with him.

I figured that would get me further than resisting. I reckon he could kill me with his thumb if he wanted too.

"Yes Sir" I grinned, and decided that - so far that these people seemed to be alright.

'Into the doom of the Peach survivors**' was my last thought before I followed after the deputy with a with a warm smile, ready for whatever situation these people might throw at me.

'Bring it on Merle' I thought to myself as I smirked and looked over to the two Dixon's standing on the edge of the circle of people.

(** Peach State is the nickname for the state of Georgia)

So what did you guys think? Please R&R it makes my day to see my reviews!

Do you like the way the story is going?

We are going to get to know a little more about Neila's past in chapter 3 and introduce her to the group..she might even have another little fight with Merle ;)