They arrived in the little town just after 7:30 but the sun was still in the sky shinning down on them. The heat had gone down very little and the whole group was ready to just settle down for the night, but they knew they had to keep going. They stopped just as they came closer to the city part of the town. The cars parked and everyone just shuffled around waiting for someone to say something.

"I think it would be best if we split up and tried to look for some place safe for tonight." Rick finally said. Everyone nodded and started to go gear up.

"Hershel?" Rick said gently.

"Yes Rick?" questioned Hershel as he sat in the passenger side of Rick's car.

"It's only going to be Judy here with you and Beth. Carl is going to go with me." Carl, who had just woken up before they stopped, perked instantly with his father's words. Rick only had to nod and Carl jumped out of the car and started to get his gear ready.

"Daryl would you head west? Carl and I will go east and Maggie and Glenn can go south," Rick announced as the group reformed, "We should only be gone for about an hour it is starting to get late." The group only nodded and disbanded.

Daryl walked off into the almost neighborhood area. His crossbow was across his back, they hadn't seen a walker in hours. His knife was still in his hand though, he wasn't stupid. He walked for a couple blocks and seen absolutely nothing. Not a cat, a dog, a dead body or traces of people fleeing. It was almost scarier than the towns that looked abandoned. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he continued to walk. He walked for almost 15 minutes in complete silence, the heat was beginning to finally let up and the whole world glowed gold as the sun began to set on the valley. More time passed and still nothing. Daryl began to creep around corners, the silence nearly driving him insane.

He stalked around another corner to find a small gas station with one odd thing; a bright yellow scooter next to one of the pumps. Quickly he darted into a yard and hid in the bushes. He scanned everywhere for the driver, and looked for more vehicles. Daryl crouched in the bushes waiting for the rider to expose themselves, and nearly gave up. Seconds before he was about to stand up and investigate the scooter, someone came skipping out of the gas station store.

Daryl froze out of instinct and shock. The person that stood next to the scooter was a young girl, who was dancing around her scooter. Relieved, he popped up and ran off towards her. Maybe she knew what happened here. Her back was to him when he approached. Without thinking, he reached out to tap her shoulder to get her attention; as soon as he did he was on his back looking up at the sky. She had dropped down when she felt his hand, swept his feet out from under him and now straddled him about to deliver the death blow to his brain. He lunged forward and pushed her back throwing her off of him and he quickly tried to climb on top of her and try to calm her down. Instead, she kicked him square in the chest and made him stumble back. Now angry, Daryl regained his balance and charged towards the girl who was trying to get her scooter away from the gas pump. He grabbed her left arm and he received one of the best punches in the face since last time he and Merle had gotten into it.

The punch blinded him for a few seconds and he squeezed her arm harder as both he and the girl hit the ground. He groaned as the blood really started to flow from his nose and all of a sudden her right elbow came up and nailed him in the ear as she really began struggle underneath him. With renewed rage, he sat up and yanked the arm he had a hold of and shoved it behind her back and pushed up. A hiss escaped her lips and she stopped moving.

"God damn girl! What's your problem?" Daryl said as his nose dripped blood on her back, "I'm going get us up, okay? Please don't hurt me or I'll hurt you even worse."

He got up and grabbed both of her wrists and used them to help pull her up while still restraining her. Still holding her hands he circled in front of her to see the girl that almost got the best of him. But she wasn't a girl at all, but a young woman; a young woman who looked like she was on the verge of tears with a big pink scrape on her cheek. Instantly Daryl felt bad.

"I'm going to let go of your hands. Please don't try to slug me again." Daryl nearly whispered to her, slowly releasing her hands and backing away ever so slightly. Her hands flew up to her face and she scowled at him, the tears never once falling.

"I'm real sorry about that. But I thought you were going to kill me. Nearly did actually." Daryl tried as the girl continued to burn holes in him with her gaze.

Something about her was almost haunting. She was short but it almost didn't appear so until you were right next to her. Her grey eyes held so much venom he was afraid to make eye contact in fear of dropping dead. Her shining brown hair flowed around her face, crazy little waves and ringlets gave her hair the impression of a lion's mane. And finally he seen where the knife had come from, there was a knife belt around each thigh.

"Look, I said I was sorry. Okay? I mean…" Daryl's voice trailed off as he grew suddenly dizzy. Warmth started to cling to his skin by the top of his jeans. He looked down to see the bottom of his shirt was cut open and he was bleeding from a cut that started just above his belly button to his waist band. The cut wasn't extremely deep, but it was deep enough for him to be losing a lot of blood.

He stumbled back and the girl stopped scowling and darted forward to help him keep his balance. She put his arm around her shoulders and dragged him towards the store.

"No, I can't. My group will be waiting for me." But his words where his only form of protest. She wasn't too strong so it took them a while to get to the store as Daryl got dizzier and dizzier. She finally dragged him into the store and practically threw him on the ground. She ran back outside grabbed her knife and started to pull her scooter away from the pumps. Daryl thought she was just going to leave him there to die and he cursed her in his head and closed his eyes. What a way to go, grazed by a knife by some crazy looking girl that left him to die of blood loss in a gas station.

He could hear the door rattling so he snapped his head up to see the girl propping the scooter against the doors blocking them from anyone on the outside. She ran back over to him and started to unbutton his shirt and look at his wound. Her hands were quick and delicate on his tender flesh. She stood up quickly and jumped over the counter, disappearing for a few minutes. When she finally jumped back over she had a first aid kit and a bottle of vodka with her.

Quickly she set up and began to work. She used her knife to cut his shirt the rest of the way off and started using it to clean up most of the blood that was everywhere. Daryl had laid back and closed his eyes; it was getting hard to keep them open. All of a sudden it felt like someone had set his wound on fire. Before he realized it, he had grabbed her wrist and squeezed as hard as he could, making her let out a small whimper. His fingers instantly released her and guilt took over. Her hand gingerly touched his face and his eyes flew open to find her offering him the vodka. He tilted his head up and she tilted the bottle to his lips. He took a few good drinks and she took the bottle away.

He laid his head back and felt almost drunk already. He squirmed a bit, but every move hurt him. He felt her hands drying up his stomach and even unbuttoning the button on his jeans. He didn't say anything, he didn't even move. He was falling asleep as she covered up his wounds. Suddenly, he reached out for her and caught her wrist again and pulled her towards his face.

"Thank you for not leaving me. I really mean it too." He whispered drunkenly to her. He grabbed her face in both of his hands and just stroked her cheeks. Her eyes searched his face with her intense stare, but this time he didn't look away. Her face was soft now; she gently pulled away from his caress. He leaned back and was out in just a few short minutes.