Hello! Well, I'm proud to say that I got a very good response to my story. My two first reviewers liked the twist of my OC and I think is a nice way to make her vulnerable and at the same time interesting, right? Well, hope you all enjoy knowing a bit more about June

Cake and Stars

After an hour of walking around Daryl pulled June's arm to force her into facing him. "Are we walking any father?"

"Oh!" she blushed furiously. "I'm so sorry; we can rest if you're tired."

"No!" Daryl was a badass used to walk behind deers for days, he was not fucking tired. However, it was getting dark and he didn't want anybody go looking for him. "Is just… I was just wondering."

"Just fifteen minutes ahead, I promise." June explained. Her eyes became all shinny and Daryl knew she didn't want to walk alone in the darkness. However, she didn't need to ask twice because her eyes were already making Daryl having a difficult time finding his will. He just nodded in agreement and June smiled again.

She speeded up the pace and began talking "You will love everyone! You must stay to eat dinner with us…" her face lightened up and Daryl couldn't suppress a grin shaping on his mouth. He was being carried away to who-knows-where and he was completely fine with it. "The other campers don't appreciate visits, but our little group is pretty isolated and I don't think they will find you."

The alarms ranged in his head when she mentioned the other campers and something was struggling to get through his mind but her hand over his seemed just…right. And for a moment he forgot how insane the world was.

"Maria makes awesome food and she can make a full dinner of only a few cans of Cambell's soup and rat meat. "June made a grin of disgust; she was obviously not a fan of eating something that might have been looking for its lunch in a trash can. "She always wanted to be a chef, but their parents forced her into laws school. Once tony found her a package of pasta and it was glorious…"

June turned around every now and then to check on him and Daryl noticed she seemed worried about boring him and that he might decide to take off. He started smiling back every now and then to assure her he was enjoying himself. June explained Daryl they had a very effective system of protection. There were five camps, four of them little and placed around the sides of the main camp, so if one was attacked, the others could be warned and take off. She was part of a little camp.

Daryl started worrying. If he met other survivors they might not be as friendly as June…or maybe they would be too friendly and then he would have to explain where he got his food and water… "My brother doesn't let me go to the big camp. He says then men have done some pretty bad things to survive and that I don't need to know. So I trust him."

"Dave is the one that loves Maria the most. He has lost a few pounds because we have been running a bit low on supplies lately, but I still fear he might feel like a midnight snack and eat me up." June giggled and her cheek were shinny red for the effort she was putting to talk and walk at the same time.

"There's is Randall, too" June seemed to turn down the cheerfulness in her voice for a second and Daryl could notice she was frowning …

Suddenly he realized Randall was the name of the guy that Rick and Shane had taken away to the school today and a knot shaped up in his throat. However, he tried to convince himself there were many guys named Randall, even in a fucked up world like this one "He's always picking on me. My brother Tony says he's got a crush on me, but I certainly hope he doesn't." Daryl felt a spark of joy at that last statement, but his common sense repressed it immediately.

"I haven't seen him since him and Tim went looking for the other guys." June's look darkened as she looked down and Daryl suddenly understood he was completely fucked up. "My brother and Dave went looking for supplies into the woods, but they never came back." Daryl tried really hard to keep his face emotionless but it was hard considering he knew that there were two dead bodies rotting in a bar and that one of them was June's brother. He knew she should have said something but he couldn't-. He couldn't risk making her hate him. So he silenced the voice of guilt screaming in his head. "Then Randall and Tim went looking for them and I was supposed to stay with Maria, but I was too thirsty."

After a few minutes of silence, June recovered her smile.

"Tim is an okay guy, you know. He doesn't talks much, but he is just a bit depressed because of Nana…" June suddenly froze and turned back to see Daryl-

For a few seconds he thought something was wrong, but June's eyes filled up with a mixture of joy and nostalgic. "Nana would have loved you. She was always trying to take care of everyone. She would have tried to wash your clothes and gave you a bath..."

"Do you think I need a bath?" Daryl asked, enunciating slowly

"Oh! No! I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to.." June quickly corrected embarrassed, but Daryl chuckled.

"Relax doll, I was just messing with you." He softened his look and received a smile in return. "Your grandma sounds like a nice person."

"Yeah, she was" June affirmed and then recalled. "She was eighty and still joined us the whole way. The other campers didn't accept her at the beginning but she volunteered to babysit the kids and clean all the laundry."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Daryl apologized, cursing at himself for being so stupid. Truth to be told, he was having a hard time being civilized. Usually in the camp everybody was already used to his rudeness and lately, they didn't even bother much to interact with him. Fuck them, see if he cared.

"No problem! See, she had a good death. One morning we found her sleeping and she never woke up. She looked…peaceful. Tony said that was the only dead worth living for. Peaceful and around the people you love." June let the words floating in the air for a few moments before shaking his head. "Anyway, my brother has always been a poet…."

Daryl was about to say he agreed with her brother when his hunter skills detected a branch crashing close to them. June kept smiling at him, not understanding why he had stiffened up and looked for something around them. Suddenly the sounds of steps were obvious and Dixon took his defensive position

"Get behind me." Daryl ordered.

Like he had pleasantly guessed, June was good following orders. She didn't question him or broke down screaming and shit. She pressed her body to his back, peaking over his shoulders to see what they were facing. "How far from the camp?"

No response.

Daryl turned back his head to give June a good sight of his lips. "How far from the camp?"

"Almost there, just passing the bushes." June whispered, making Daryl shiver at the feeling of her breath caressing his neck. "Stay close." He commanded and started walking slowly with short steps.

June copied every movement with such precision Daryl could swear she stepped in the same spot he had seconds before. He also suspected this quiet and sumise behavior had been the main tool to stay alive surviving during this time.

Finally they reached the clear ahead. Five tents were lined up in a circle around a fire that was still smoking. The silence freaked Daryl out and they didn't seem to be any signs of live around them. Daryl relaxed and lowered his bow, but just immediately a woman came out of the last tent.

She was dressed with a yellow dress that contrasted with her dark skin. Her mouth was distorted into a creepy grin and she wore braids covering all her head except for the large portion of skull that was missing and that exposed the brain. Daryl didn't hesitated and immediately shot the woman down because she was already rushing to them. He felt June's hands clenching to his back.

Unfortunately he was too busy to comfort her because a second walker came out of the same tent, still devouring the woman's piece of skull. Daryl shot him too. He waited a few seconds and then faced his friend.

June was pale and little tears were forming in her eyes but she dried them embarrassed. "Those were Maria and Tim." She explained.

"I'm sorry, I had to do it. They were going to…" Daryl stated defending himself but she cut him off.

"I know you had to. They would have done the same to me. But if Tim was here that means he came back infected and then pass it on to Maria. Randall apparently didn't make it back…" Daryl repressed a growl and muttered something like "he almost didn't" but June didn't noticed his lips moving. "That means Dave and my brother…" her voice broke. "They didn't make it back either."

"I'm still sorry." Daryl stated as he stood there awkwardly.

June then sobbed a bit, but she cleaned her tears again and took his hand and squeezed it. Daryl held his breath, hoping to preserve the moment, but it was gone in a blink. "I'm sorry too."

"Hey, listen to me. It's getting dark out here." Daryl recommended. "You should find your group and take off before more of these things appear."

"I can't go back!" June desperately confessed. "They must have moved when they heard Maria's screams and I have no idea where they went. And now that I don't have Tony to protect me…I ..I..I don't know!" she broke down in tears.

She was sobbing badly and her little body was shaking. Daryl noticed then she was only pretending to be tough for him, but she was obviously scared. "Hey he mumbled uncomfortably. "Hey, hey, calm down." He said as he grabbed her hand and couped her face. "Don't cry." The filth of his hands embarrassed him, but she seemed not to notice. Warm and salty drops traveled through her face.

"I'll take care of you." Daryl promised. And he was a man that kept his promises.

After burring the dead corps and collecting a few clothes, they were ready to go.

June wasn't sure why she trusted Daryl. Truth to be told, she didn't even trusted him. It was just that she had been following someone else her entire life and that had managed to keep her alive. Even before the world went to hell. The night had fallen upon them as they walked and June couldn't help to take a look at the stars a few times. They looked brighter out here in the country.

Tony liked stars….on the camp nights, through the bathroom window as they locked in to hide from their father, lying on the ceiling of Nana's house. He had always been fascinated by them. He said they were majestic, shining all their way through the galaxy, billion miles away and reminding them how small they were. But Tony was gone. Nana was gone, too. And June felt already small enough.

"Home sweet home." Daryl stated as he turned back to lead her into the clear ahead.

June was startled. Lying ahead was a white country house next to an old barn. The light of the house were on and June could imagine the habitants getting ready to sleep. During all the time she had been running away she never found a place so… peaceful.

"Its' beautiful." She exclaimed but then she noticed how Daryl shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"You can't sleep in." he muttered. A light shadow of disappointment crossed her face but she recovered immediately. "I mean, no one can. The man owning the farm, Hershel, lives in with his family and friends and he makes us freeze out here like dogs."

June caught the frown in his forehead and she imagined Daryl was not the owner's biggest fan. She nodded obediently.

"This way.." Daryl signaled. They walked a bit more to a tent away from the others and closer to the forest. Dead squirrels hanged from a tree and flies buzzed around. Daryl opened the tent for June and she slipped in. Then he zipped the tent enough to cover the entry but still leaving a hole for his face to fit in. "I'll bring you some water and food-. Please don't move."

Another obedient nod.

"June…" it was the first time he called her by her name and June felt a wave of heat hitting her through the cool breeze of the night. She was thankful because the darkness probably hided her blushing. "You can leave the tent without my permission. Nobody can find out you're here."

And just then she understood what was in stake for him. She nodded again and he closed the tent.

Daryl entered the house as quietly as he could. He even managed to reach the stairs before someone spotted him.

"Daryl!" a feminine voice called from the dinner room, where most of the group gathered around the table. The empty cups of coffee and the crumbles of cake in the empty plates made Daryl guess they hadn't notice his absence until dinner was over. He sighted, defeated and dragged to the table.

"What's up? Why are you all gathered? Something happened?" Daryl pretended innocence as he avoided the questioning looks of Rick and Shane. He was afraid they could see in his eyes he was hiding something. Or someone, he thought.

"We were all worried about you…" Carol started with a maternal tone that irritated Daryl.

"So you all decided to gather an eat cake?" Daryl made a sarcastic grin "Jesus, thank God you did! Better stay in safely and have a cup of coffee instead of looking for me, right?" he pointed at Carol accusingly as he took the rest of the cake out of the trail with his filthy hands, enjoying the reprobation look Lori gave to him. "Oh, do my modals disturb you, darling? I know why you didn't search for me now! You didn't want this dumb bitch crashing any more cars"

"That's enough!" Rick ordered hitting his fist against the table. "Do not disrespect her."

"Disrespecting her would be assuming I had any respect for her to begin with, which I don't." Daryl teased with precaution as he clumsily filled up a term with coffee, enjoying thinking who much would Maggie would have to scrub to remove the brown spilling of the white tablecloth. "Please, don't stand up, I know you're too tired of worrying about me."

Later, after making sure nobody had followed him to his tend, Daryl congratulated himself. With all the tension in the dinner room, nobody had asked where did he was taking the food and seeing how June cheerfully devoured the corn cake, he smiled.

I'm still trying to see how am I going to include June in the season finale, so it could take me a while to update again. Please be patient and review