Chapter Two

"How old do you think she is?" Riley heard an unfamiliar female voice whisper when she was gaining consciousness.

"I don't know. I think she's around your age, Maggie." A softer female voice replied.

"Would be nice to have a female friend." The first voice mentioned.

"I'm your sister." The other person replied a bit offended and the other woman seemed to softly chuckle.

"So? Friends are different than family Beth. I can't really complain about you, to you, you know?"

"Maggie that's mean!" The younger woman said before Riley heard a slapping sound and someone laughed. She frowned before slowly opening her eyes, blinded by the bright light that was shining in the room she was lying in.

"Look she's waking up! Go get dad!" Riley heard one of the women say before she heard someone running away and all of a sudden a young woman with short brown hair appeared next to her bed.

"Hey, you have been sleeping for such a long time." She mentioned as she looked at Riley in concern.

"Where I am? Where's Daryl?" Riley asked while she began to panic, frantically looking around. She had no idea where she was or who these people were. She tried to sit up but her side was dully aching again, making her gasp in pain.

"Wooh, take it easy! You're safe here." The young woman mentioned as she sat next to Riley on the bed placing her hand on the young woman's shoulders to gently press her down on the mattress again. "Daryl carried you here after my dad looked at your wound."

Riley looked downwards now, noticing she was wearing a long white shirt and the mud on her skin was gone. She realized that these people had probably cleaned her up a bit and she lifted up her shirt, seeing that a large bandage was wrapped around her waist.

"My dad cleaned the wound and stitched it. We've been changing the bandages every night to make sure it wasn't getting infected." The young woman explained and Riley frowned in confusion.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Uh.. About three days." The young woman replied and Riley's eyes widened at the news before she suddenly heard a few voices coming from behind the door.

"I'm comin' in as well man, I was the one that saved her!" She heard a familiar voice snap.

"Daryl, calm down. Let Hershel look at her first." Another man said in an authoritative tone of voice, clearly trying to calm the situation.

After a moment the door opened and Riley saw an old man entering the bedroom, followed by Daryl and another man who tried to keep the hunter back which clearly wasn't working as Daryl merely pushed the man away from him, following the old man into the room.

"How are you feeling?" The older man suddenly asked her and she snapped her eyes away from Daryl to the old man.

"I'm uh.. I'm just a bit tired. The pain in my side isn't so bad anymore." She replied and looked from the older man to Daryl again who was standing there with his arms crossed, not looking at her face. She noticed that the man standing beside him was frowning at her, staring directly into her eyes as if he was trying to figure her out which made her look back to the older man again.

"My name is Hershel, you are at my farm. This is my daughter Maggie." The old man, now known as Hershel, said to her as he pointed at the brown haired woman who was still sitting beside her. "Thankfully we were able to bring your fever down. I have cleaned and stitched your wound. I also gave you some medications for the pain. Maggie and our family friend Patricia have washed you the best they could with you being unconscious."

"Thank you." Riley replied as she looked at Hershel and then to Maggie who took her hand and squeezed it in comfort, smiling at her which unknowingly made Riley calm down.

"You have to take it easy for a few days but you will be fine. You need to get your wound checked every day. The stitches will eventually need to come out." Hershel said to her as he stood up and Riley nodded in understanding, thankful that they actually wanted to help her.

"Hershel, can I talk to you for a second?" The unfamiliar man suddenly said to Hershel who looked at him and nodded.

"C'mon Maggie, let the girl rest." Hershel said to his daughter who stood up before she gave Riley one last smile in reassurance. The three of them walked out of the room leaving Daryl to stand awkwardly at the door. He was contemplating if he either should ask the girl what happened to her in the first place or walk out of the door as well. He wanted to know her story even though he wasn't saying it out loud.

"Daryl?" Riley's voice all of a sudden called out to him, making him look at her. "Thank you for bringing me here. You could've left me out there in the woods but you didn't." Riley said and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, looking away.

"Yeah.. Whatever. Anyone would've done it." He mumbled to her, not really good at handling gratitude from others.

"Not everyone." She said and he looked back at her again, seeing she was frowning while she was staring in front of her, not looking at him. He was about to ask her what'd happened to her but was cut off when the door all of a sudden opened again, revealing the unfamiliar man that'd just been in the room as well. He closed the door behind him and walked over to Riley.

"My name is Rick, Daryl told me what happened." The man said as he stood next to Daryl and held out his hand towards her.

"Riley, nice to meet you." She replied as she shook his hand.

"Can you tell me what happened to you before Daryl found you?" Rick asked her and Riley frowned.

"I uh.." she hesitated while she looked from Rick to Daryl and back to Rick again.

"We told our group about your arrival but we don't know what happened to you and where you come from. We can't afford to merely take in strangers we don't know." Rick explained to her and Daryl shifted a bit uncomfortably on his feet. He was aware of the fact that if the girl wouldn't be able to win the group's trust, she would be kicked out for sure.

Riley looked at the men in front of her and nodded. "Okay, I will tell you." She said and Rick nodded before he took two chairs that were standing in the corner of the room and brought them over by her bed. Daryl and him both took a seat, ready to listen to her story.

"I was running with some of my friends after I left my hometown since it was beginning to become crowded with those.. Dead things." She said and Rick nodded in understanding, knowing that a lot of people had been ambushed in the beginning of the outbreak. "My parents they.. They didn't make it." Riley added while tears formed in her eyes as she thought back at her parents.

"After being on the road for a few weeks, my group got attacked by a big group of those things. Not being smart about it, we all ran into different directions into the woods. I remember running while being followed by at least five of those things. I managed to hide out in a tree for the time being. After sitting there for two days, I came across this man with his two teenage daughters. He was kind enough to take me in and together we were travelling near the road in order to find a car we could use. I.. I came across some of my friends, but.. they were already dead." She said and sighed, looking down at her hands.

"After about two weeks of sleeping in cars, walking around trying to find food, we made a small camp. I was collecting firewood when it happened," she said as she closed her eyes reliving the horrifying moments. Rick and Daryl frowned at each other, not know where her story was going.

"As I was collecting wood, I all of a sudden heard yelling and screams coming from our campsite. I rushed over because I thought we were being attacked by the undead, only.. it was actually the living." Riley mentioned as her hands turned into fists at the memory.

"I heard a few male voices so I stopped and hid behind a tree. I could hear the teenage girls screaming while their father was yelling to someone to let them go." She said as tears were falling from her face. "I looked from behind the tree and I saw.. I saw the girls.. They were screaming.. Those men they were…. they just tore their clothes off… they were hurting them.." she stuttered and began to cry. Realization hit Rick and Daryl and their eyes widened, shocked by the girl's story.

"I was so afraid, I couldn't.. I.. should.. should've helped them but there.. There were at least ten men. I didn't know what to do!" She sobbed, feeling guilty about the entire situation that had happened.

Rick suddenly leaned forward and covered her hand with his, making her look at him while the tears were falling down her cheeks. "You couldn't have done anything, there were too many." He told her and Daryl looked at the floor feeling rather uncomfortable since he wasn't good at comforting people like Rick was.

Riley slowly nodded and Rick squeezed her hand before he let go, silently urging her to continue her story.

"They made the father watch.. They just.. and.. God he was screaming to let them go. They suddenly shot him in the head and I was standing there in shock. I didn't realize I had moved from behind the tree until one of them looked straight at me. Before I thought about it, I turned around and ran away." She said and sighed. "They'd sent two men after me but I was able to get away from them by climbing in the tree where Daryl found me. Some of those.. those walkers how you call them, had been messing with their trail, I've never been so grateful that those things were close by."

Rick frowned and looked from Riley to Daryl, who was frowning as well, knowing that they would need to discuss this problem. If that group of violent men were merely a few hours away from the farm, their group could be in danger as well.

"Okay, you rest. I'll go talk to the rest of the group about this." Rick suddenly said to Riley as he stood up and Daryl quickly followed him. The hunter took one look at the girl sitting on the bed, seeing her brushing her tears away while she tried to calm down and his jaw tensed before he closed the door behind him.

Riley slowly lie down again, hearing Rick and Daryl talking as they were still standing outside her door. "Hershel told me she could stay, but we need to get the group informed about that group of men. Our people could be in danger. I think if we-" Rick's voice trailed off as the two men headed downstairs.

Riley sighed as she looked around in the room she was staying in. It was mostly white with a big wooden closet in the corner and a wooden table covered with a few books and papers. She slowly pulled away the blanket that was covering her and carefully stepped out of bed. Her side was still painful but the stabbing pain she felt days ago was thankfully gone. She unbraided her hair, letting her long wavy locks fall against her back. She wasn't going to say it out loud, but she was really graving for a shower.

Barefoot she walked towards the photographs that were hanging on the wall near the closet. She smiled as she saw two young girls holding up some eggs in their hands while there was an older woman standing behind them with a smile on her face.

She walked over to a small sink that was standing in the corner, getting herself a glass of water. Thankfully the water was still running here. She guessed it was because of the fact that this was a farm and they probably had water reservoirs somewhere near the house.

After finishing her glass of water, she walked over to the big window opposite the bed to look outside, her eyes widening when she saw the large open field in front of her. Besides its share amount of trees, she noticed a few tents, cars and a big caravan at the end. She saw a few women laughing near the caravan while they were washing some clothes in a bucket full of water and soap. A young boy was sitting nearby, looking rather bored as he was poking the ground with a stick. Riley smiled at the view, she hadn't seen people laughing for quite some time let alone see a kid in this cruel world.

She stared across the field and noticed that Rick and Daryl were talking to a few other men near the cars, probably discussing the problem. She bit her lip as she noticed how Rick was frowning while explaining the situation. She hoped that she could stay, she wouldn't be able to survive on her own. She had only killed a handful of those walkers but she was still scared to death by them. However, she knew that the actual loneliness would probably cause her to give up.

All of a sudden Daryl looked up and stared straight at her like he had sensed she had been watching them and she quickly stepped away from the window, feeling a bit embarrassed that the hunter had seen her.

After some minutes of standing beside the window she suddenly heard loud footsteps coming up the stairs making her widen her eyes. Shit is he mad at me for looking or something? She thought but before she could move away from the window the door already opened without a knock, revealing the man who had just seen her watching him and his fellow group members from the window. She saw he was carrying her bag in his hand as he closed the door behind him.

As Daryl turned around to face the girl, all his mind seemed to register were long lightly tanned legs showing from underneath the oversized white shirt the girl in front of him was wearing. Correct that thought, he figured as he noticed her change in appearance. She was clearly a young woman as he saw her long dark brown wavy hair that was framing her face, making her look much more mature.

Daryl quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he caught himself staring at the woman, nervously running his hand over his scruffy beard. "I still had yer bag," he mumbled to her and dropped her bag on the bed.

"Oh, thank you." Riley quickly replied and walked over to him. She rummaged through her bag but realized that one very important item was missing. It was perhaps too big to fit in her bag but she still wondered where it was.

As if Daryl noticed what she was thinking about when he saw her frowning, he quickly answered her unspoken question. "They ain't so keen on people carryin' guns on this farm, the old man's rules. And since ya are still a stranger to us, they don't want ya to be walkin' around with a big ass knife either." He explained to her and she nodded in understanding before she looked at him.

"Okay."

"I have it, so ya can have it back when Rick is convinced that we can trust ya." He said as he looked back at her, his eyes unconsciously widening a bit. Somehow now that her face was cleaned from all the mud and sweat he couldn't help but clearly notice her face as he was standing so close by. Dark brown eyes, a bit of freckles on her nose and underneath her eyes. She had fuller lips than most women he had seen and her lightly tanned skin couldn't all be caused by the sun. He frowned as he thought about it.

"What?" She all of a sudden asked him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He had been frowning at her, making her think something was wrong.

"I uh.. When you're done here, ya should head outside. Rick said it's better if people from our group stay together." He said to her and walked over to the door.

"So.. I can stay?" She asked him, stopping the hunter in his tracks.

"I think you're good for now." He answered and quickly opened the door before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Riley frowned at his vague response but decided not to think about it. She pulled out all of the things she had in her bag. Two pair of jeans and shorts, a few shirts and a bra, some sweaters and a few pair of socks. She sighed as she saw that they were all dirty because she had already used them and hadn't been able to find a river to wash them. She placed the bit of canned food she had left and two empty bottles on the nightstand beside the bed before she took out her flashlight as well, remembering that the batteries had died.

I wonder if they have some batteries to spare here, she thought as she placed her flashlight next to the empty bottles.

Afterwards she carefully pulled out a photograph of her parents that was at the bottom of her bag. I miss you, she sadly thought as she brushed her thumb over the photograph.

"Riley? Can I come in?" A female voice suddenly called out from behind the door that was followed by a soft knock.

"Yes of course." She replied as she quickly placed back the photo in her bag. The door opened and Riley saw that it was Maggie.

"Hey, I thought that you might be hungry?" The young woman mentioned, holding a tray with a sandwich on it and a glass of milk.

"Oh thanks Maggie, I haven't eaten in days." Riley said as she took the plate and glass from Maggie's hands, sitting down on the bed, taking no time but dove right into the sandwich.

"I also brought some towels, so you can have a shower." Maggie added, placing the two towels she had underneath her arm on the bedside table.

"Hhphmh!" Riley replied while eating and Maggie chuckled. "Sorry, I mean thank you so much!" Riley said after she swallowed. "A shower, I haven't had that in ages."

Maggie smiled and then looked over at her bed, noticing the various dirty clothing Riley was sitting next to. "Oh, the clothes you had on when you arrived here are probably dry by now. Patricia washed them yesterday. I can take these to wash and get you you're other clothes." Maggie mentioned as she picked up the various clothing items on the bed.

"Oh, you.. You don't need to do that Maggie. You've already done so much for me." Riley protested as she was about to take back her clothes from Maggie but the woman took a step back.

"That's okay. It gives me something else to do than working on the farm." Maggie smiled. "The bathroom is at the end of the hall, there is shampoo, conditioner, soap and some clean bandages. I will place your clean clothes on the small table next to the door, okay?" She said and Riley nodded.

As Maggie was about to walk to the door, she suddenly turned around again. "Oh, I noticed the boots you had on were pretty worn out. You have my size so you can have a pair of mine if you like?" She offered and Riley looked at her in surprise.

"Uhm, you sure that's alright?"

"Of course, I'm a farm girl! I have a lot of boots." Maggie mentioned and Riley chuckled.

"Okay, then I would love a new pair of boots." She said and Maggie smiled.

After Riley thanked her again, Maggie left and Riley smiled as she thought about how friendly Maggie was. Perhaps they might even become friends since she really missed having friends to talk to. She frowned as she thought back about what happened to her own friends and she quickly shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts, knowing that it would only make her sad.

She picked up the towels Maggie left for her, heading straight to the bathroom. She was looking forward to a nice hot shower.

~ TWD ~


A/N: I hope you liked this chapter; I tried to give more details on how Riley ended up alone in the woods. Please let me know what you think of the story so far. Thanks for reading!