CHAPTER TWO BEGIN***

Several heads, lit up by the orange glow of firelight, turned at the sound of a running motor and the sound of tires coming up the dirt road to the Greene farm. There was a horse rider trailing behind the Viper, each of the bodies that the heads belonged to tensed, ready for trouble until their fears were eased by Glenn stepping out of the car.

"Hey guys! I found another survivor!" Everyone's face mirrored each other's; excitement evident. All but one that is, Maggie, who was sitting on the step, just turned and ran up the porch, slamming the door behind her as she went.

"Her name is… Ivy I think it was." Glenn continued, completely ignoring Maggie's fit.

"Yeah, Ivy." She replied, scanning the faces of the unfamiliar humans who would become her companions. Suddenly though, her eyes landed on a pair of brilliant blue eyes, brilliant blue eyes that she would recognize from anywhere.

"Daryl!" She yelled as she ran and jumped into his open arms. Ivy gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled happily.

"Ivianna Jane Costibal! Where have you been all my life?" Daryl laughed.

Ivy took a step back and looked around her, seeing another familiar face. Clementine just smiled sweetly back at her.

"I knew the Z-Poc would never take two mother fuckers like you guys." Ivy laughed, so happy that she found her friends.

"Wait… you know each other?" Clementine and Daryl said at the same time. They looked at each other, confused and Ivy knew right away that they had become a couple. This sent Ivy into another fit of giggles.

"You guys are together!" She exclaimed laughing hard and loudly, "I tried setting you two up and neither of you wanted to date!" About a year before the walkers ever came around Ivy tried setting the two up on a date but after talking on the phone once they both refused to even meet.

"That's just too hilarious." Ivy smiled. "Tiny and I met right after I moved to Florida. Anthony wanted to go to his parents' cabin here in Georgia and I knew there was a clinic going on, I think it was some sort of blood testing thing, and Tiny was my instructor. We clicked, I guess, so, since then we have been pretty good friends." Ivy explained to Daryl using Clementine's nickname, Tiny.

"But how do you know him?" Tiny asked pointing to Daryl.

Daryl laughed, taking the rein on this one. "We had sex one night. It was so sexy it hurts to think about." Ivy laughed loudly and smacked Daryl upside the head, and then she noticed the look on Clementine's face and took pity.

"Don't listen to him, he's a Dick." Ivy stopped to smile at Tiny to reassure her that Daryl's story was in fact, false. "We were neighbors growin' up. Best buddies since we were little."

"Oh, ok, well that's awesome. I thought you lived in Kentucky though Daryl?" Tiny asked.

"Yeah I did until about a month before the world went to shit. So did Ivy, but she moved to Florida a few years before, we grew up together in Elkton. Small, shitty town."

"It was not shitty! It was the bes-" Ivy was cut off by someone clearing their voice from behind them. It was Glenn.

"Um, I'm glad you know them, but don't you want to meet everyone else?" He reminded her. Ivy had forgotten everyone else, she was just stoked that her friends were still alive, worse for wear, but who wasn't?

"Damn. Yeah, sorry, totally forgot that everyone else was here." Ivy said apologetically, while smiling sheepishly.

"Well first off, this is Rick, our sort of… unofficial leader of sorts." Glenn started. Ivy openly ogled the man Glenn was pointing at, he was attractive and she was unashamed to think so. Rick grabbed her hand and shook it in welcome. Ivy gave short thanks and waited for Glenn to continue.

"His wife Lori is inside with their son Carl." Glenn continued.

Damn, he's married. Ivy thought sadly.

When Glenn finished pointing everyone out Ivy just smiled, happy to finally have some companions. She loved being on her own, but it got tough sometimes, she was stubborn but Ivy would at least admit to that.

"Well, that's everyone. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry sooo…" Glenn trailed as he walked to the fire and grabbed some of what Carol had been cooking.

Ivy decided that she liked Carol a lot. Something about her was just really inviting and she was beyond beautiful. Just sad. Ivy wasn't sure what had caused that sadness in her but she was almost completely sure that it hadn't started when the apocalypse did like it had for most of them, whatever it was.

"Ivy?" Carol called out to her, gaining her attention. "Would you like something to eat? We have beans and squirrel meat."

Ivy's stomach growled, thankfully though, no one had heard it. "No thanks." Ivy responded. These new folks had given her a place to stay and were now offering her food; she couldn't use up all their resources. She might stay here for a while but Ivy knew that she wasn't going to stay here with them forever.

"I think I am going to go to bed. Thank you for your hospitality, I will see you all in the morning." Ivy announced. There was a collective "Goodnight." From everyone as Ivy walked away but Tiny followed her, needing to talk to her.

"Hey, Ivy, wait up." Ivy waited and turned to her friend so that she could continue. "Hey I know that it isn't the way Daryl made it sound, but, did you guys really have sex?"

Ivy laughed before answering, and then said, "Yeah, we did."

"Oh…" Tiny said in response but Ivy just continued,

"We were fifteen. We both wanted to get the 'stupid virgin thing' out of the way. It was ridiculous. Awkward. We are like brother and sister, it was just weird. Seriously, you have nothing to worry about at all." By the way that Tiny blushed Ivy knew that they had already had sex so she continued the conversation.

"So how long have you guys been together?" The young woman asked the slightly older woman.

Clementine took a moment to answer, but he didn't actually know day-wise.

"Well we have been together since the group was at the quarry. That was before we went to the CDC en came here."

"No way, you guys all went to the CDC?" Ivy asked as she took the back pack off of her tired shoulders and began to pull out its contents.

"Yeah… why are you unpacking here? Shouldn't you stay closer to the camp?" Tiny questioned, baffled as to why Ivy would choose to sleep by the creek almost a mile from camp and in the woods.

"I am used to being by myself. I like being with y'all but I aint stayin' here. I don't want anyone gettin' attached." Ivy told her, grabbing some sticks that were lying around by the moving spring.

Clementine was left speechless, unsure of what to say she just settled on a goodnight and walked back to Hershel's.

Ivy just went back to her task of pulling everything out of her bag. Once she had everything out of her back pack she unstrapped the scarf-bag from her shoulder and began to empty it as well. Once everything was spread out before her she picked up her blanket and spread it, right next to the fresh creek, she then proceeded to untie, and lay the scarves over the blanket.

Ivy continued setting up her camp putting all the cans of food in a stacked pile beside where her head would go on the blanket, then put the box of crackers and can of salt in front of the stack. She also put the jug of water next to her stack, piling the weapons next to it as well just about a foot away from her "bed" but putting her machete directly next to her.

Ivy picked out a few larger, round rocks from the creak end put them into a circle, placing the sticks and twigs she found in the center and found another stone that was sharp at the tip and a stick. She made a fire with them.

With the rock she used to make a fire she sharpened another, longer stick and punched it through the can of beans that would be dinner and held it over the fire like a marshmallow. He was quiet but Ivy was his best friend since they could remember so she knew he was there.

"Oh, come on, you're good, if I was anyone else I would have no idea that you were there, but I know you way too well. The least you could do is come hold this for me for a moment." Ivy said out loud, causing Daryl to curse and walk towards her from the shadows.

"Dammit woman, you are the only one who can do that. I'm not just good, I'm the best." He said as he grabbed the stick from her hand, continuing to hold it over the fire as she had done. Ivy just smiled as she stood, grabbed her knife and began walking around, collecting more sticks from the lush forest floor.

She had an armful of sticks when she heard a growl and felt her hand being tugged from an unseen force, she turned her body around coming face to face with a bloody mess and a broken nose. The smell of rot too strong for anyone not to gag. The monster continued to gurgle and growl at her as she fruitlessly tried to pull her way out of its hungry grasp.

Ivy dropped the sticks that had been in her other arm, all of them, except for one. She kept the one stick and plunged it through the walker's eye socket, letting the black blood flow freely down the skin of her arm, the little hairs being slicked down by the oozing goo. Unfortunately it was still "alive" and attacking her. She ran backwards and into a tree, Daryl, who had a thin log hit it, knocking it down long enough for Ivy to slide the skinning knife from her belt loop and slice through its neck, successfully severing the head. Once the head was off of the walker Ivy grabbed one of the thicker sticks she had dropped and impaled it into the head, sticking it into the ground, leaving it there like a trophy.

Ivy continued to clean up the mess by grabbing the fully dead walker by the hands and dragging it towards a different direction than her camp. Daryl reached out and grabbed the walker's feet hauling it up so that they could move faster.

They disposed of it in the woods quite a ways from the creak. When they got back to her personal camp Ivy picked up the can of beans that had been left there when the walker had attacked, and put them back over the fire as if nothing at all had happened.

Once Ivy thought that the beans were done she set them down by the creak and washed her hands and arms in the creak.

Ivy popped the can open and took her fork from where it sat beside the rest of her food and took a few bites of her beans.

"You hungry?" Ivy asked, offering to give him some of her dinner as she continued pulling scoops out of the can and shoving the forkfuls into her mouth. What? She was really hungry.

"No thanks! Looks like you can't get enough for yourself!" Daryl said, laughing at the woman.

"Oh shut up! I'm hungry!" Ivy exclaimed. Laughing at her idiotic best friend. When they both sobered up she asked, "Do you act like this with her too?"

Daryl gave her a strange look that was surprisingly, one she didn't recognize before responding to her, "Only sometimes. I've known you my whole life, I li- appreciate her, but I don't know. Dammit! Why the fuck are you makin' me talk about this?"

"'Cause I'm mean!" Ivy said smiling and dropping the topic. "You'll always be the Daryl I know." She suddenly stated, causing Daryl to feel awkward and begin to walk away.

"Damn straight!" He said backing up. "I'm gonna go to bed I guess." He finished turning and walking through the trees back onto the farm.

"G'night dumb ass!" Ivy yelled as she took out one of her three plastic baggies she had brought with her, putting what was left of the beans into it. She then washed out her can and filled it with water from her gallon and sipped it slowly, just watching the fire's left over embers burn.

Ivy bent over her "bed" and said her nightly prayer, thanking God for just one more day, and went to sleep, wondering about what tomorrow would bring.