Chapter Two

Twenty Thousand Questions

"Who the hell is that?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Was she bit?"

"Should we just kill her now?"

"Where did she come from?"

"Would ya'll just shut up?" shouted Daryl before making his way over to his tent. His brother was on a hunting trip of his own so luckily he wouldn't have to put up with his torment for another few days.

"Fine, Dixon, you get her cleaned up, but once you're done, you have some explaining to do," ordered Shane before walking away.

"Damn right I will," said Daryl sarcastically, "Fuck you, you ain't the boss of me." He knew he would have to explain everything; he just didn't like Shane and his 'want to be dictator' attitude. Daryl could see right through him and knew he really was a nobody.

Getting to work, Daryl rolled both of her pant legs up and grabbed a rag and his water bottle. It wasn't as cold as he would have liked, but it was better than anything, so he poured water onto the rag and wrapped it around her swollen ankle. Then he grabbed another rag and cleaned out the cut on her calf, now that is was cleaned he had a better look at the cut and was surprised she made it as far as she did on it. Finding the cleanest shirt he had, he removed her makeshift tourniquet and wrapped his clean shirt around her cut as a make shift bandage. It was the best he could do for now.

Exiting the tent he went to go wash his hands and lucky him, was ambushed by Shane.

"Ready to tell me who the hell that is?" he said crossing his arms as Daryl washed his hands. Slowly others gathered around them.

"Don't know her name. Just some girl I found while huntin'. She was sleeping in a tree and fell when she was climbing down and passed out a little later. Couldn't just leave her there," he said drying his hands off on his pants.

"And what were her injuries? Why did she pass out?" asked Shane.

"And why was she in the woods by herself?" asked Andrea.

"Why don't you just ask her all of this. Ain't my crap to tell. And she wasn't bit so you don't need to worry about it," he said before walking away. He grabbed his crossbow and went back into the woods, maybe now he would be able to find some food.

-.-

Coming back from hunting with only four squirrels to show for it he ignored the other sitting around the fire and went straight to his tent. Tossing the squirrels and his crossbow to the side he opened the flap and saw the girl still sleeping. Happy with that, he checked her for a fever before going back outside and starting a fire. The rest of the group had the squirrels he had hunted that morning, so the four he returned with was all for him, and the girl if she woke up.

He skinned and gutted the squirrel and had it cooking when his tent opened up and out crawled the cripple.

"Oi, squirrel boy, where the hell am I?" she asked, slowly making her way out and over to Merle's chair. She sat down gently on the edge and looked down at her ankle, her pant legs still rolled up.

"Brought you back to my camp. Don't worry, we kill the bit ones here," he said. To be honest, he didn't know if they did because the occasion never arose, but he sure as hell wouldn't keep someone around who was bit.

"Oh ha, ha," she said rolling her eyes, "and I suspect it was you that bandaged me up too."

"What about it?" he grumbled as he turned the squirrels on the spit. There was a long pause.

"Thanks," she said looking at him. He turned and looked at her and nodded. It was this act that they knew, while they might butt heads because of their defiant personalities, they knew what was important and that it was crucial to take care of one another at a time like this.

They were silent the rest of the night as they ate their dinner and were sitting back in the chairs. Daryl noticed that she kept looking over to the other fire where everyone was gather but he couldn't read her face, it was too neutral.

"So, do you have a brother or something with you here?" she asked while staring into the fire.

"Yeah, Merle, he's on a huntin' trip right now," he explained.

"And your last name is Dixon?" she asked. He nodded and she caught the motion in the corner of her eye, "but it was your bed I was sleeping in, right?"

"Yeah," he said kind of confused. They looked at each other and she tapped her nose.

"Everyone has a distinct smell, your sleeping bag smells just like you, I woke up a little when you were carrying me here," she explained. He just nodded again; made sense.

"What is the relationship between this group?" Daryl knew she was asking about why he and his brother were separated from the others, something in the tone knew she was curious. Plus she probably didn't want anything like her last group.

"My brother and I…we prefer to stick to ourselves. But when this crap happened decided to camp with these people. Better chance of survival or somthin'. We get food and provide the best we can but keep our distance and don't get too close in case we have to tear away from them."

"Sounds smart. I respect that strategy. This large a group of people, it's almost like a buffet for them," she said glancing at the others as they started to re-treat to their tents for the night. They fell into a silence again.

"You should get some sleep," said Daryl after a while of watching her fight it off; her head occasionally drooping than popping back up. She nodded and carefully stood up with the support of the chair and wobbled back to the tent. She laid down on Daryl bed again and was soon out like a light.

Sometime later Daryl came in and glanced at the girl sleeping in his bed. It was an unusual sight indeed, and he still didn't know why he decided to help her. As he laid down in his brother's bed he really regretted it because he knew first hand that Merle didn't not smell like any Georgia peach and having to sleep in his bed was just an overwhelming sent. He groaned before sucking it up and closing his eyes, what had he gotten himself into.

-.-

"Well, looky what we have here."

Daryl groaned before turning over and there was his brother at the tent's opening looking in. He glanced at his brother but his eyes were locked on the sleeping girl. Looking out past his brother he could tell it was just dawn and time for him to get up anyway. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as his brother walked into the tent and over to his brother on his bed.

"You know when you go huntin' I expect you bring back a deer or something, but this a lot finer. You done well, so what did you do?" asked Merle sitting down on his bed as well and beginning to pull his boots off.

"What?" asked Daryl pulling his shirt off to change it.

"You don't fuck a chick and then sleep in someone else's bed unless you screw up. I am not surprised considering it's you, but I want a laugh. So what did you do?" explained Merle as he then removed his socks and Daryl's nose scrunched up. Merle smelled but his feet were by far the worst. It was a wonder the girl hadn't woken up from Merle's loud voice alone but the smell must have woken her up, or she was in worse shape than he thought.

"I didn't fuck her, I saved her. Anyway why the hell are you back so early?" he asked searching around for a new shirt.

"Ran into some of those sick fuck's. Way too many so I decided to head back," he said with a shrug before laying back on his bed and putting a hand behind his head. Daryl nodded as he pulled a new shirt on over his head and glanced at the girl. He really didn't want to leave her with Merle, god knows what could happen, Merle hadn't gotten any in a few months and knew he would try something.

"What do you plan on doing now?" asked Daryl as he grabbed a handful of jerky for his breakfast and turned to face his brothers.

"Relax a bit I don't know, maybe cook up the game I caught for breakfast. What are the others…that cop, up to?"

"Running on low on supplies, heard they were going to head to town."

"Is that so?...Think I'll go with them," said Merle and Daryl raised his eyebrows at his brother.

"Whatever, man," Daryl said before shouldering his crossbow and leaving the tent. Merle just rolled over onto his side and got a few hours of sleep.

A/n: So maybe you can ignore the 'once a week' thing I said in the last author's note. I just didn't want to have too much pressure to write this story but I am writing it at a steady pace so I decided to upload it as long as I have enough written.

Thanks for reading.

-Charlotte