So here's chapter 1, let us know what you think! - Cori

Chapter 1: The Redneck and the Huntress

Cori watched as the deer raised its nose too sniff the air. She froze, doing her best not to make a sound to alert the animal to her presence. Once she could tell that the deer's brief moment of paranoia had passed, she slowly began to rise to her full height from her spot behind the bushes at the edge of the clearing.

"I swear this is nothing personal, Bambi," She mumbled under her breath as she reached back and pulled an arrow from her quiver, "But you know, mouths to feed."

She had her shot lined up, ready to ruin a beloved children's movie for herself to feed her "family", when the deer took off like its little tail was on fire.

Her first thought was that a walker was coming her way, until she heard the voices. She dropped to her knees, using the bushes for cover and hoping that she was right in assuming that they would come into the clearing in front of her. She quickly pulled her hair back into messy pony tail, once again dreading her choice of self-expression. "Believe me, if I had gotten the memo that the world was going to heck I would have died my hair a normal color and thought twice about piercing my nose," She mumbled under her breath.

"Wait wait wait, if she was alone in the woods, how do you know what she was thinking and saying to herself?" Logan asked, with one eyebrow raised.

Uncle Merrill just laughed, "I have known these people for years, we've spent almost every day together for over eight years and I've heard them tell these stories a million times, now can I tell my story or not?"

With no further objections the inn keeper returned to his story, "Now where was I…

Normally Cori was all for standing out and being different, but trying to hide in the woods with bright green highlights in her black hair and worrying that the sunlight might catch her nose ring the right way was nerve-racking to say the least.

Trying to avoid the walkers was bad enough, but she had also learned pretty quickly that the living could be just as dangerous. Other than her family and the rest of the group, she did her best to avoid contact with other survivors.

Once her hair was secured, she readied her bow again, just in case. Once it was ready, she tuned into the strangers conversation as they approached.

"Gees little brother, lighten up, 'T was jus' a joke." The first man said as he came into sight. He was tall, a bit older and had short whitish-blonde hair. His white wife-beater was stained with dirt and god only knows what else and his jeans and tan over shirt looked like they had certainly seen better days.

After the first man's comment, a second man stalked into view. He was younger than the first and much quieter as he moved through the forest. He had darker hair, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. His hand tensed into a fist and then relaxed as he spun around, lowering his crossbow as he talked to the man who was apparently his brother, "Yeah, ha ha ha. Next time I'm gonna leave both of ya back at camp, I hunt better on my own anyhow."

Cori was about to sneak back to camp, when the weight of what the man had just said hit her. He said "both", so where was redneck number three? The question had barely occurred to her before she got her answer, she felt the end of a gun being pushed against the back of her head before she ever heard anything to indicate that he was there.

"How 'bout you drop your weapon and put your arms up? Nice an slow," A male voice from behind her requested in a tone that made the request sound more like an order. Although he obviously had a southern accent, his pronunciation and the lack of slang made him stand out in comparison to his companions.

"Hey Daryl!" The gunman called to the men in the clearing, "I found something you're gonna want to see."

Cori took this moment to comply with the gunman and lay her bow down, it would probably be better if his friends didn't come over to see her pointing a weapon at them

"Wha' is it?" The man she assumed was Daryl replied.

She cursed under her breath as the man approached, his crossbow loaded and ready. She was mad at herself for not waiting for Hope to be ready to come with her that morning, but at the same time glad she wasn't here to lecture her for "talking like a sailor".

The man she now knew as Daryl took half a step forward before stopping and giving the man behind her a suspicious look, "Another rabbit?"

The gunman chuckled, confirming Cori's assumption that there was a story there, "If it is, it's one weird little bunny rabbit."

Daryl raised an eyebrow at Alex as he continued to inch toward the bush that his best friend was standing behind, "wha's that mean?"

"Stand up little rabbit," He instructed, and a moment later Cori rose from the bushes. He took a moment to look her over, she seemed harmless enough. She was average height for a girl, fairly skinny but she definitely had curves, and her eyes where nearly as blue as his. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail, making the green highlights pop even more and doing a little bit better at hiding the fact that her naturally blond hair had grown out in the two weeks since the walkers appeared.

"Who're you?" He asked, raising a bow in her direction.

She stared at him for a moment before replying, "I might be more inclined to answer if I weren't being threatened from all sides."

"Stop pointing tha' at the lady," Merle said with a laugh unique to him, "'Sides what's she gonna do ta us?"

Reluctantly, Daryl lowered his crossbow and nodded for Alex to do the same. She slowly lowered her arms, glancing at the ground by her feet where her bow lay for a moment before deciding against going for it just yet.

"They lower'd their weapons, now I believe ma brother asked fer yer name sugar," Merle continued.

She studied Merle for a moment before once again glancing into the bushes by her feet.

"Whatcha keep look'n at?" He finally asked.

Cori opened her mouth to say something, but Alex beat her to it. "This," he replied simply as he bent down and retrieved an expensive looking professional black and green long bow.

Now the trace of fear in the younger girl's defiant eyes was replaced with anger, "Give me my bow back," She said simply. Alex chuckled and held the bow up out of her reach, and causes her to curse under her breath as she tried to get it from the much taller man.

"Now now little rabbit, simmer down," Alex instructed, the smirk on his face in direct contradiction to the serious tone in his voice.

Daryl was about to tell them to shut it before their arguing drew every walker in the freaking state to them, when he heard it, "Shh," I instructed,

Everyone froze and listened, "I don' here anything Darylina, maybe ya…" Merle's sentence was cut off by a flash of black and white flying from between the trees, white teeth bared. It started stalking dangerously toward Alex and Daryl brought his bow up, he had it in his sights, ready to fire.

"You shoot my dog cowboy, and I shoot you," Came Cori's steady but dangerous voice as she turned the fury in her blue eyes from Alex to Daryl.

The dog continued to snarl at Alex as the Cori and Daryl stood locked in a staring match. "If ya don' want me ta shoot it, call it off," HE finally responded without lowering his bow.

"Tell your lackey to give my bow," She replied evenly, he had to give her credit for standing her ground. Most woman he knew would have either backed down, started begging, or at least crying by now. But here she was, unarmed and alone in the woods, standing up to three armed men.

He exchanged looks with Alex before nodding for him to return her bow. As soon as he lowered his hand she snatched it from him and hooked it over her arm.

"Inara," she said turning to the still growling dog, "Shikiro." The dog growled once more at Alex before shutting its mouth and sitting, patiently waiting for its master's next instruction.

"Shika-what?" Daryl asked giving the strange woman a confused look.

She stared back at him for a moment like he was the weird one, "Shikiro. It means shut-up, in Korean."

This sent Merle into a fit of hysterical laughter, but why he found her comment so amusing was always up for debate, "Yer dog speaks Korean?"

"Well yeah, if someone broke into my home I wouldn't want them being able to tell my dog to shut up, who would expect her to speak a foreign language." She said with a straight face, only the slight twinkle in her betraying that she was messing with them.

Her answered earned another burst of laughter from Merle, "We got a China-man back at camp, when we take ya back to meet Deputy Dumb- ss I'm sure you'll have lots ta talk about," He managed to choke out.

Cori raised an eyebrow before chuckling, "Number one: I'm not going anywhere with ya'll. Number 2: I don't really speak that much Manderin."

Before the words left his mouth, Daryl could tell that his brother's reply wasn't going to change her mind, but if they were lucky it wouldn't end in him getting slapped, or shot. "They all soun' the same ta me sugar," Merle responded with a chuckle.

So today was Daryl's lucky day, he wasn't going to have to pull an arrow out of his brother's knee tonight. She just stared at the men for a moment, "On that note, since you idiots tromping through the woods scared of my dear, I'm leaving."

"Shane said…"

"The good deputy will be cross with us if'n we don' bring ya back with us," Merle cut Alex off, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well find someone else, 'cus it isn't going to be me," She said as she headed off into the woods with the dog following close behind.

"Aw let her go," Daryl instructed as the three watched her go. Alex and Merle turned and started walking in the general direction of camp as he adjusted his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder, "Crazy b!tch."

"So that was the day that started it all," The inn keeper said with a smile as he stood from his spot at the table.

Bill stared at his host for a moment, "What do any of them have to do with Miranda?"

"All in good time, I warned you it was a long story. The events that led to Miranda being settled started with Cori, but without her sister Hope it is questionable whether we would be here," The inn keeper paused for a moment as he gathered everyone's dishes, "Now if you'll excuse you for a moment I need to get desert."