Daryl watched as the young woman's eyes rolled into the back of her head, her body went limp and slumped to the ground. He stood watching her for a long moment, the sound of small animals and birds surrounding them.

The lack of walker noises reassured him that the threats were gone. He took cautious steps towards her, and with each step, assessed her. She looked small curled in the dust and leaves, though her hand still clung tightly to the large Bowie knife.

"Girls' got balls to carry something that big" he thought to himself. Crouching beside her, he noted her suntanned skin was pale and sweaty, and she looked skinny for her height. "Too skinny for my taste," Daryl muttered. He peeled back her eyelid, simultaneously feeling for her heartbeat in her neck as Herschel had taught him. Steady, but slow. She had probably bottomed out from the adrenaline, and lack of food from the looks of her.

Daryl rocked back on his heels contemplating. He certainly wasn't going to leave her here by herself, but here wasn't the best place to make camp. Sighing, he decided the best course of action was to move her further along, and try to find a shelter. He scooped her up in his arms, grimacing at how light the girl was. He would need to hunt and get some food in her.

As he walked Daryl contemplated his decision to save the girl. He could have just left her there, but part of him had rebelled at that idea. In this world you had to be strong enough to take care of yourself, and he had seen she was, though she needed to eat more. He wondered why she wasn't with a group, but then, he wasn't either...and for good reason.

Later that evening

Daryl leaned back against the cave wall, pleased with his luck. The caves in this area were few and far between, and he had been worried it would have walkers in it. Luckily there had only been one, and he had been able to set the girl down and deal with it quickly. He stationed the body of the walker outside as a sort of repellant as Michonne had mentioned once, hoping it would work.

He had gathered firewood and dug a hole in the ground, keeping the fire low, cooking the squirrels and a rabbit he had managed to hunt down. He watched the girl sleep, wondering if he should attempt to wake her.

He had managed to find some fresh water and had used her water bottle as well as his own to collect it, and was considering waking her to make her eat and drink. It was clear from her physical condition she had been running a long time, maybe she needed to keep sleeping? Daryl noted that her boots were wearing through and she had wrapped them in spots with duct tape, and her dark skinny jeans had multiple rips in them.

Her light blue sweater (turquoise maybe? Hell he wasn't no fashion designer, how was he supposed to know that shit?) also had tears and holes in it, letting him see through to a grey undershirt that was pulled up enough for him to see a sliver of her flat stomach and a pair of protruding hips bones.

It was the dark circles under her eyes, the cheekbones that were becoming prominent and the hipbones that were starting to show in an unappealing manner that all told him she hadn't had any good food or rest in weeks. The only good piece of clothing she wore was a long black trench coat that reached nearly to her knees.

His attention drifted to the fire and the rabbit and squirrel roasting there. He reached out to turn the meat and jumped when the girl let out a low moan-

"Unghhhhhhhh"

Daryl's head snapped up from watching the fire and over to the girl, who seemed to be rousing. He watched her with cautious eyes, hand on his knife.

She came to slowly, moving with care. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. He noted that they were a hunter green with an inner rim of desert sandy gold, the strangest hazel eyes he had ever seen. The fire light lit her face and hair, showing it to be a color like chocolate, twisted into a low, tight bun at her neck. Her eyes, piercing and wary, held his for a long moment before she spoke.

"Hey. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I passed out. Thank you for not leaving me to become walker chow," She offered a small, wry smile at this, and then asked, "What's your name?"

Daryl studied her for a moment, letting the silence hang there, and then spoke. "Wasnna big deal. Couldn't just leave you to die. I gotta know if you deserve it first." He watched her process his statement in silence, wondering what would come outta her mouth next.

"Well, I hope you give me the chance to prove I don't deserve it"she said with a smile. "My name's Lena, by the way."

He held her eyes, nodded, and gestured towards the food on the spit, "There's squirrel an' rabbit if you're hungry. I got some fresh water here too."

He sat in silence while she nodded her thanks, and moved toward the fire, grabbing a spit of squirrel. Blowing on it briefly to cool it down, she quickly went to town with little groans of pleasure.

"Hmm, least she ain't shy bout eating. Though it's probably been awhile since she ate good" he thought to himself.

After devouring one of the squirrels he watched her finish off her own bottle of water, let out a loud burp, blush and mutter "Excuse me". He pointed to the other squirrel on the spit, "You can have that one too."

She shook her head, "No, you need to eat. Thanks though."

Daryl grabbed the skewer and held it out to her, "Eat. You won't have the energy ta keep goin if ya don't" he growled at her.

She raised a brow at him and took the proffered skewer, "Okay. Thank you." Daryl pulled the rabbit off the skewer and pulled the meat off the bones, storing it away so that they would have food for the next day. He watched as Lena ate the other squirrel, pleased.

Making a decision, he looked over to her as she settled into a curled position around the fire facing him. "Hey" he half waved a hand at her.

Lena looked up at him, "Yea?" "My name's Daryl" he told her. She smiled at him, her eyes already sliding closed with exhaustion, "Nice to meet you Daryl."

Daryl leaned against the cave wall, facing the entrance, with every intention of keeping watch. However his attention soon wandered, and Daryl found himself watching Lena sleep. He wondered who she was, and what she was like. He hadn't met anyone for a long time. He wasn't sure he was ready to spend time with people.

Slowly he began to drift, his body sinking into exhaustion. He tried to fight off sleep but was unsuccessful, having been walking for days himself. The last image seared into Daryl's mind was of this new woman, Lena, smiling in her sleep, the fire reflecting softly on her face. The image soothed him to sleep like nothing had done in recent months.