CHAPTER TWO: MISTAKEN, AGAIN

I found a tree that I could probably stay in for a few days to keep away from the dead ones.

The sun was already starting to set and I could hear the walkers approaching. I had killed a stray previously and hung it through a tree branch. Hopefully, it would hide my scent from the rest of them and I'll be able to get a good night's sleep.

The tree was uncomfortable. I much preferred his sleeping bag to this, but what was a girl to do? I looked down and saw a couple of the walkers meandering around. Not a lot. There shouldn't be too much problem.

When morning arrived, there was still one stray wandering. I jumped down from the trees and easily stabbed its head. I stared at it for a moment, wondering if maybe I should use it to disguise myself, but I didn't want to carry it around. I had tried it before and the stench eventually made my stomach roll uncomfortably with nausea. Better to just leave it here.

I walked over to where I had previously fallen and looked down into the water. I could still see the small file of bodies where I had been trapped. Better not get too close to the edge.

I began to search around the foliage. I didn't stop until something shiny caught my eye. I picked up the blade with satisfaction. My old dagger. I slipped Daryl's dagger into the holster and kept my own in my hand.

I walked until I found a small, seemingly deserted town. I was going to need a backpack and some supplies. I had already used up my supplies before I found the farm. Hopefully this place still had enough for me to scavenge.

I found an intact bag near one of the corpses and quickly searched it. Nothing useful inside, so I dumped the content out and went on my way.

My first destination was the grocery store where I had taken several cans of food and bottles of water. I also managed to find several tubes of unused chap sticks. I licked my dry lips in contempt. I hated dry lips.

Next, I visited the pharmacy where a makeshift sign told me to grab anything that I needed. My lips quirked upward. It was heartening to know that even at times like these, there were still good people around, but they never last long.

"No! Please! She's only a child!"

Bang!

"No!"

Bang!

I shook my head of the screams and walked in. It was difficult to see without a flashlight, but since it was morning, there was enough light filtering through to make the aisles visible. I grabbed two bottles of pain killers, some bandages, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and a bottle of antibiotics.

This would have to do for now. I didn't want to linger here for too long in the open. I'd need to find another tree elsewhere to stay.

"Hey!" I jumped and turned around with my knife ready to strike. "Whoa! Whoa!" The man held his hands up, one with a handgun. I noted the other gun in his holster. "Not here to hurt you. Was just heading to the bar," he said, pointing at a building behind me.

I stared at him.

"Are you staying anywhere?"

I continued to gaze at him warily. It wouldn't be wise to tell them that I was alone and I wasn't sure how they would react if they thought I had other people with me.

He must've come to a conclusion on his own because he slowly relaxed his arm to his sides and took on a more comfortable stance. "I'm Dave. We were probably just going around town like you are - looking for things."

"Yo, Dave! What did ya find?" A bigger man was walking towards them and I immediately began to back away.

Something about them made me wary.

"Do you want to join us?" he offered. "We have a small group of people. It'd probably be safer if you're not on your own."

"I'll be fine," I mumbled, continuing to back away.

Dave smiled at me. "You have a nice accent. British?"

"I'll be going, now." I turned and gritted my teeth when I saw a young man - perhaps a teenager - several feet in front of me. "I don't want any trouble. I was only passing by."

"Randall, let her go," Dave told the teen.

The boy grinned lecherously at me before stepping to the side.

I took one last look behind me at Dave who was motionless and ran off. I didn't stop until I was deep in the forest and couldn't see them anymore. They didn't seem too terrible, but I couldn't be sure. Better to be safe than sorry.

Some groans and rustling came from my right. I quickly looked and saw at least a dozen of them shuffling towards me. I sighed and ran the other way. It was so tiring with the bag.

I found a nice tree and quickly climbed it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to decorate it with a dead walker, but at least they weren't coming up here. I'd just have to find a way to get down when morning arrives.

As expected the next morning, the dead continued to fruitlessly reach me. I sighed and wondered how long it would take before they'd leave me alone. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sun on my face. With no destination to reach, I didn't really mind just staying up here. If only I was somewhere more comfortable or maybe if I had a pillow.

By late noon, the walkers were still relentlessly scratching at the tree. Was it possible for them to actually push it down? They didn't seem to have any form of cooperation, though, so it was probably near impossible.

Suddenly, a loud frustrated cry pierced through the air. The walkers turned their heads and began to walk towards the new potential prey.

I bit my lips as I watched the walkers shuffle away. Should I go help the person?

A second cry and I couldn't resist at least checking. The person was still alive and I had to go see.

I threw down my bag and jumped down the tree before running towards the source of the cry. On my way, I tried to dispatch as many walkers as I could - mainly the ones that were trying to claw at me. Eventually, I managed to eliminate most of them while they were distracted and reached the cliff where I had previously fallen. Was there another victim?

I looked across and didn't see anyone. I peeked down and saw a fallen form slumped against the hard rocky surface.

Slowly, I began to slide down the steep hill and managed to reach the landing without killing myself. I walked over and was shocked to see a familiar face. "Daryl?"

I knelt beside him and started to shake his shoulder until he let out a pained groan, but remained unconscious. "Daryl!"

One side of his face had a streak of blood. He must've hit his head on the way down, but it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. He was also completely drenched in water and one of his own arrows had pierced straight into his left side. I touched it for a moment, wondering if perhaps I should get it out and wrap him up, but stopped and froze.

I heard several groans above us and looked up to see the walkers approaching the cliff. They didn't seem perturbed by the steep fall and continued to walk until their bodies plunged straight down. I cringed as all their bodies landed with a disgusting crunch. Some of them landed head first and didn't make it, but the ones that were still moving began to get up and slowly approach us.

"Daryl! Wake up!" I didn't care that he was hurting. If he didn't wake up soon, it wouldn't even matter. "Daryl, walkers!"

I cursed when his eyes remained closed. I stood up and faced the walkers with the dagger clenched tightly in my hand.

With a strong kick, I managed to knock over one of the closer walkers, creating a domino effect as it caused several more to fall. I quickly stepped to the left as three walkers fell where I had just been standing. Before they could get up, I stabbed through their heads and faced the others. There was at least half a dozen and I could hear more approaching.

I dodged the first one before stabbing the back of its head. The second and third I managed to easily take down, but as the fourth one approached, one of the newly fallen walkers grabbed me around the ankle and I painfully fell to the ground.

With my other leg, I kicked its head, trying to either kill it or make it let go. "Daryl!" I shouted at the bowman, again, as several walkers began to approach him. "Daryl, wake up!"

I screamed as another walker grabbed me from the back. It desperately tried to bite my neck, but I pushed its head away and stabbed it. The blood splattered across my face as I pulled the dagger back out.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to catch my breath as another fell on me. I shoved its body off me, but another took its place. How many were there? "DARYL!"

Instead of trying to aim for the head, I stabbed repeatedly at its body. The stomach quickly tore and I could feel all its content soak into my shirt. I screamed, again, and continued to stab until the dead body fell in two. The lower half slid motionlessly off me while the top half was still actively clawing at me.

The one at my foot was gnawing at my shoe until I kicked its head off. Unhindered, I stabbed the head of the one still half laying on me.

With the guts all over my shirt, I was relieved to see that the walkers weren't as interested in me. I sighed and stabbed the one closest to me as I approached Daryl who was starting to wake up.

...

"Merle..." he murmured as he tried to reach his brother.

"Daryl, wake up! Wake up! Walker!"

He jolted awake as he saw one of the geeks on his leg. "Fuck!" He panicked and kicked the walker off of him with his other leg. He tried to reach for his crossbow, but the walker jumped on him, again. He punched it several times in the face before rolling over so that he was on top.

"Hold it still!" he heard a familiar accented voice tell him before a dagger rendered the geek truly dead.

He looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before nodding his thanks. She smiled weakly back at him, but quickly pointed at another walker that was quickly approaching them. He could also see the ones behind her. They shared a look and seemed to come to a silent understanding.

He charged forward with a long, thick branch in his hand and pushed all the geeks back, while she quickly killed the one that was approaching them from the forest.

"Come on, hurry up!" He wasn't going to be able to hold them back for long.

As she ran towards him, she picked up his crossbow and threw it at him.

He dropped the branch and jumped back before decapitating one of the walkers with his bow. He continued to back up as she charged forward. With one hand on the arrow that was still inside him, he began to pull. The pain was excruciating, but he needed it. He let out a cry of pain as it finally came free. With much difficulty, he pulled back the string and loaded the arrow.

...

I panted with exhaustion as I pulled out my dagger. Taking advantage of my current state, one of the walkers jumped on me. Just as it was going to bite off my face, an arrow pierced through its head, only narrowly missing me. More blood splattered on to my face, but I was too tired to care. I pushed it away from me and collapsed on to my rear, unable to stay on my feet any longer. "Daryl!" I held up his dagger in my hands and he quickly snatched it by the handle and made quick work of the rest of the walkers.

"Bloody fuck..." I muttered as I continued to try and catch my breath.

Daryl stumbled over to me before falling face first on to the sand.

I waited for any sign of movement, but when his form remained still, I crawled over. "Daryl?" I rolled him over on to his back and saw that he had fallen unconscious, again. The adrenaline must've been the only thing that had kept him going.

Sleeping would be a good idea, right now. I laid on my back beside him and wanted nothing more than to close my eyes, but I knew that someone had to keep watch.

I stared aimlessly at the cliff where the walkers had dropped down like rag dolls. How did we even manage to take them all down? I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. We were alive!

"Whattaya so 'appy about?"

I looked over to him and smile. "We're alive!"

He snorted and tried to sit up, but laid back down when the pain became too much. "Crazy Brit," he grumbled under his breath.

I didn't allow the words to affect me. "Do you think you can make it back up the cliff?"

"Fell the first time I tried," he said.

I smiled widely at him. "You didn't have me, then," I told him while helping him to his feet.

I grabbed his crossbow and slung it around my shoulder. I could feel his gaze fixed on it before he looked down where his hand was still clenching tightly to his dagger. He glanced at the one I had holstered. "Found one of your own?"

"Found the one that I had lost," I replied before we slowly made our way over to the cliff wall.

"Wait."

I stopped as he broke away from me and limped over to retrieve a small doll in a pink dress. I couldn't help raising a skeptical eyebrow at him, but what confused me the most was when he began to make a necklace of walker ears. "Really? Isn't that just a bit morbid?"

He didn't reply as he limped back towards me.

"How did you even end up down here?"

"Damn horse got spooked and threw me off her," he grumbled. "Lost ma squirrel, too."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Bad day, yeah?"

We began to scale up the cliff with great difficulty. He was determined to go up without my help, so I hung back. In case he fell, I'd hopefully be able to grab on to him and hopefully not get taken down, as well.

"That doll," I started as I looked at the plush tucked between his belt and his trousers. "Is it Sophia's?"

He paused in his movement before continuing. "Yeah."

"If it fell into the water, it could've come from anywhere. Do you think she fell into the water?"

He didn't reply.

"Were you close to her? I heard from Carol that you've been going out into the forest everyday to search." I continued on knowing that he wasn't going to respond. "I'm sorry about what happened. It must be hard losing a child."

"She's not mine."

"I know, but... Sometimes, you just feel this connection with another person." I stopped when I realised how that must've sound. "I mean, I lost my family shortly after the outbreak, but there was this kind man who treated me like his own daughter. You must feel the same way for Sophia, yeah?"

"'E dead?"

I swallowed. "A while back," I replied. "We met another group and they weren't like you guys. They pretended to help us and when we went to sleep, they took us down one by one. They were looters - murderers. They didn't even spare the children. Only a few of us escaped, but we were all separated."

Eventually, we made it to the top and he fell back to catch his breath. I walked ahead a little to scout and when I came back he was already on his feet, again. I tried to help him walk, but he brushed me off, so I left him alone.

I continued to talk about nothing, trying to fill the silence. When the farmhouse was finally in sight, I fell back. "You'll be fine here." I handed him his crossbow, which he happily slung over his shoulder.

"Was fine before," he scoffed.

I shook my head as I leaned on a tree trunk. "Of course, you were." I watched as he stumbled forward and couldn't help but laugh at how he resembled a walker. At least he was safe, now. Several of his friends were running his way. They had their guns pointed and weapons ready, but relaxed when they noticed that it was only their missing member.

Just as I was about to turn around, I heard a loud gunshot. "Daryl!" I screamed as his body fell to the ground. I fell to my knees in front of him and quickly checked his head. The bullet had only grazed the side of his temple, but the stress had rendered him unconscious.

"Get away from him," Shane snarled at me and pushed me away as he and Rick picked Daryl up.

Andrea and Dale ran over and I felt a sense of déjà vu, except this time, I was in the spectator's seat. The blonde woman must've been on the lookout and mistook a human for a walker, again. I didn't blame her, though. Even I had mused that he looked like one of the dead. I blamed myself. I should've helped him to his friends. At least then, she'd probably realise that Daryl wasn't a walker.

I bit my lips with worry as the group brought him to the house. I wanted to go with them to make sure that he was really alright, but I knew that I wasn't welcome.

With one last worried look, I turned around and walked away.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have decided to write a chapter two! For me, it's always a bit difficult to narrate an actiony scene, so I hope that was alright!

Thank you TheLadyAranel and galwidanatitud for reviewing!

Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story!

If you guys continue to review, I promise to keep writing!

P.S. Is anyone else excited for the next episode?!