This green eyed, brown skinned woman had her pistol aimed directly at him and looked very pissed off that he was eating her food. Damon cursed his starving stomach for not allowing him to think smarter, he knew that he should have known better than to be caught taking from someone else. Some people reacted in more of an aggressive manner to their things being stolen, especially in this world where every piece of certain things were precious to surviving.

And it was obvious now that the home in which he currently invaded was this woman's. He saw that he was in between a rock and a hard place, especially when he realized that she had a gun in her hands and he didn't. He had laid his long-gun rifle down to eat some of the food in which he had found. His rifle was just an arm's length away, leaning against the counter. Perhaps if he was quick enough he could grab the rifle and aim it at her, somehow rattling her and getting her to drop her gun. Or at least defend himself and shot back, if she decided to shoot him.

His eyes shifted towards his rifle as he considered doing this.

She saw his eye movement and the rifle and step closer, with her gun still raised. "Move one inch towards your gun and I'll blow your head off of your shoulders, I swear." She warned, reading his mind.

His eyes scanned the stone cold expression on her face, giving him the feelings that this woman appeared to be woman who was hardened by the world in which they were living in. The tone in her voice and it's threat was very serious, like she meant every word and that she would shoot him if he tried to reach for his rifle. He didn't know how fast her trigger finger was, but he knew that it wasn't a good idea to test her out or he could very well end up with his head blown off of his shoulders.

Since reaching for his rifle wasn't an option, he knew that there was only one other way that he could get himself out of his situation and that was too talk his way out of it.

"Hey, easy there." Damon spoke.

"Raise your hands in the air and don't move." Bonnie commanded.

"Whoa, I don't mean you any harm." Damon told her.

"I said raise your damn hands in the air." Bonnie repeated with impatience.

He put his hands in the air. "Okay, okay."

She returned. "Now, explain to me why I shouldn't kill you in this very spot."

He responded. "Because I'm not a threat to you and didn't try to hurt you."

She scoffed. "I would say otherwise."

Damon questioned. "Otherwise? In what way did I threaten your life?"

Bonnie let him know. "Stealing my food on a planet where something to eat is so hard to come by, yeah I would say that you threatened my life. Even if not directly."

Damon defended. "I was starving, you know how it can affect your judgment and thoughts when your body is deprived of food, I haven't eaten in days."

"I don't give a shit about the reason." Bonnie cut him off. "I just know that I have a major problem with people taking stuff that is mine."

"Alright, you're upset that I took your food and you have a right to be." Damon stated in hopes to cool this angry woman down. "My bad, I'm sorry for stealing your shit."

Bonnie glared at him. "Bullshit, you're only sorry that you got caught."

Which was true, Damon admitted to himself. If he didn't have a gun pointed at him, with this woman looking like she was ready to end his life at any second, then he wouldn't have given a damn about the food that he stole from her. Not if it meant putting food into his belly.

However, he keep this to himself and wasn't going to let her know that. "No, I'm actually truly sorry. Let me go and I won't touch anymore of your food. And we can act like this encounter never happened."

She snapped out at him. "I'm no fool, once a thief, always a thief. If I let you go now, how do I know for sure that you won't come back and try to take more of my food or my other stuff without my permission. The way to insure that it doesn't happen is to put a bullet into your brain."

Damon swallowed, man she sure was tough and hardened, whoever she was it was clear that she was the type not to take any mess from anyone. And the type to seem like she would kill without hesitation if someone gave her a reason to. Such as him taking the food that she held dear to her. He couldn't blame her though, as he imagined that he himself would be pissed if someone stole food from him, in this post apocalyptic environment.

"I work my ass off for everything that I can get my hands on, everything that is important for me to live. I scrap and fight tooth and nail for. Especially elements in which are important to surviving in a time and place like this. I fight until I'm bruised black and blue for everything that I earn." Bonnie clinched her teeth. "So I'm don't take kindly to people taking something that I fought for, doesn't matter if you take a little or a lot. You harm my chances of surviving, even by the slightest and I consider your life fair game in order to be ended my me. And stealing is one of the most cowardly, underhanded things that a person can do."

"I can see that I obviously made a major mistaken in taking food from the wrong person." Damon confessed. "But, that mistake shouldn't cost me my life."

"Why shouldn't it?" She asked in a deadly tone.

"Fine, yes my number one concern was feeding myself, to prevent me dying from hunger and I didn't care about who I wanted to take it from." Damon admitted.

"I should thank you for being honest for the first time since you set foot into this house." Her tone was sarcastic.

Damon tried to stay calm, even while having a gun pointed at him was really starting to irritate him. "And it's no different from you, as I'm sure that your number one concern is yourself as well, you do all it takes to survive, just like I do."

Bonnie sneered. "I think that you and I have different methods of surviving."

Damon pointed out. "Yet, still the same concerns and goals when it comes to living."

She shrugged. "Still haven't given me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

"If you keep me alive, I guarantee that I will make it up to you." Damon babbled.

"How?" Bonnie was in disbelief of this.

"I'll replace all of your food that I ate, plus tenfold that." Damon mentioned.

"Not a good enough reason." Bonnie directed.

"We could team up together and enhance our chances of survival that way." Damon suggested

Bonnie rejected the notion. "Why would I want to team up with someone who tried to steal from me."

Damon raised his voice slightly. "Look, people have done worse things besides stealing in order to live."

Bonnie simply said. "I don't team up with anyone."

"Why not?" Damon wondered.

"I prefer to work and live on my own, I don't need teammates." Bonnie responded.

"I see, you must be a loner then." Damon smirked.

"And you're a bandit, who steals things from people who have worked hard to earn them." Bonnie retorted.

"Touche." Damon had some snark in his voice this time. "But, don't you think that your odds are better with someone by your side, another person there to help you get access to food and other sources that you need to live."

Bonnie stated. "Seem to be doing just fine by myself and I have been a lone wolf for years."

Damon pressed. "You sure that I can't change your mind on that."

Bonnie sharply replied. "No."

Damon went on. "Just saying, I know methods and access to ways of survival that most people don't know. And it's obvious that you have done well for yourself in your own ways of survival. So, if we combine those efforts, then we could make for one badass, strong team of two."

"I repeat, no." She said again.

"Listen to me, I don't have to be your adversary when I could be your teammate and I promise you that I would have your back." Damon directed at her,

But, no matter what he was saying, Bonnie still wasn't convinced just yet.

He realized more and more, that he had to think quick on his feet. He had to come up with an offer so good, so it would assure her not to kill him and that they could work together, But, what could such an offer be. That was when he remembered something, something that had just came to his mind, about what he had heard. He wasn't even sure that this something was one hundred percent accurate, however in this moment he had to try anything and everything to get him out of this situation.

"On top of replacing your food, and having your back, I also have another offer for you.." Damon paused. "What if I told you that there was a place, a place in which most people aren't even aware that exists. But, this place assures that you never have to worry about food, water, clothes, or how are you going to make it out the next day alive again."

"What in the hell are you speaking of?" Bonnie questioned.

His planned had worked and she had given him an opening, so he was going to take it. "There's this place, it's suppose to be like a community or settlement or something."

"Settlement?" Bonnie sounded doubtful.

Damon gave her his explanation, based off of what he had heard. "This settlement, it's like a town, a town that had high walls built around it, to keep out uninvited guests or those who would cause harm. So it's secure. And the community inside of it, is like it's own secret society, hidden away from the rest of the world. They have live stock, animals, and grow their own crops. Meaning they are supplied with plenty of food and they also have their own water supply. Plus, they have electricity there and homes with running water, so the people there can actually take a nice, hot shower everyday if they wanted to. They don't have to fight for something to eat, because they produce so much of it through their crops and livestock."

Bonnie eyed this blue-eyed, dark-haired, bearded male stranger that was before her with extreme suspiciousness . "You're delusional. Electricity hasn't existed on this earth for the last thirty years, all the the power plants were ruined or damaged during those storms."

"It's true, electricity is out for most of the world and will remain that way for a very long time. Electricity does not exist in a mass scale, like it did before the apocalypse." Damon commented. ""But, in this one place, in this one town, they have somehow managed to produce electricity on a small enough scale to supply that community with lights."

"Do you think that I'm an idiot, you come up with this lie in order to try and distract me. There's no such a town or place, where you are describing this so called fairy tale community. It can't be real, not in a world that is in the current state that it's in." Bonnie was being pessimistic.

"It's very real and it's out there, I'm not lying to you. I can prove to you that this settlement is real if you would just let me show you." Damon insisted.

Bonnie shook her head. "How would you show it to me"

Damon told her. "You would have to come and travel with me."

She furrowed her brow. "Are you serious, I'm not going anywhere with you."

Even as his arms were getting tired, he still held his hands up in the air as a sign of peace. "You could choose to stay here or you could choose to shot me on this spot. But, then you would be risking never finding out that this settlement is real and end up regretting it. Or wondering for the rest of your life if you missed out on something like this."

She still hesitated.

"Imagine if this community is actually real. Where there is plenty of animals and crops to eat from. Then you would never again have to worry about going hungry one day. And it's secure so no more of worrying if you are going to get attacked by a group of cannibals or being afraid of someone trying to kill you. You would be able to sleep in peace at night. And electricity that allows you to have running water and to take warm baths or showers."

"Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to live day after day struggling to survive or wondering where our next meal is going to come from? And actually be able to live out lives in comfort for once? This place here you got is okay, you've set of a decent spot to live in. But, it's not the safe haven that the settlement would be. You and I have may have different methods, but still with the common goal of wanting to live. So, why not team up and work together to reach that ultimate goal. This is a golden opportunity for the both of us and this community that I speak of, it's about as close to an oasis as you're going to get in this shattered world." Damon negotiated.

Bonnie hated to admit, but this idea of the community intrigued her. "I'm not saying that I believe you, but if this fairy tale place that you speak of is real then where is it."

Damon responded. "Virginia."

Bonnie repeated. "Virginia?"

"Southeastern Virginia." Damon specified.

"Is that your wild guess?" She questioned.

"I have a map which was gifted to me, where it shows where this place is located." Damon explained.

Bonnie challenged him. "Prove it."

Damon let out a breath. "Fine, I'm going to have to reach into my front pocket to show you."

Bonnie gestured to him with her handgun. "Do so very slowly, and don't make a one wrong move,"

Damon proceeded with caution. "Alright, I'm going to slowly reach in with my left hand and show you the map."

She kept her focus firmly on him.

Slowly, he reached into his front pocket with his left hand and pulled out a piece of paper. Then held the paper out to him.

Carefully, Bonnie stepped closer to him and grabbed the piece of paper from him with her free hand.

He held his breath, hoping that what she saw would get her to back down.

She opened up the map, then studied it. The map was worn out and crumbled at the edges. But, still showed what was clearly a map of the state of Virginia and just like the blue eyed stranger had said, there was a circle around an area in Southeastern Virginia, with the small hand writing of , written besides it.

"See" Damon spoke. "I told you that I have proof. The community is really there. And just in case you still have doubts, no I didn't make the map on my own, it was given to be by a person."

Despite having no idea as to who this man was, Bonnie actually believed him concerning the map. "Maybe this settlement is there and maybe it isn't. Either way it's all the way out on the east coast and we're in Arizona now. We would have to travel there by foot and that would take us months."

She was correct, he knew. About 90% of the America's vehicles were no longer in working shape. Most of them laid abandoned, with their engines and batteries rusted and rotted out and their tires flat. Meaning that they were useless and couldn't be driven. It was a source of luck to be able to find a car or truck that was actually in working function. Which meant that the majority of people had to travel by foot or perhaps by horse by, if they had the animal. This meant that it took a lot longer to get to point A to point B, more than it did before the apocalypse happened.

"Yeah, you're correct. It would take a while to get there and would be one hell of a long journey." Damon agreed. "But, wouldn't it be worth it, for this place to be the safe haven that everyone would dream of."

Bonnie thought about it long and hard, for a few minutes. Weighed her options and the pro and cons. Then came up with her decision. "Okay, I'M a business woman. For the sake of myself, I can do business and compromise, if I believe that I'm going to benefit from it."

Damon returned. "Smart choice."

She sharply added. "However, only if I get something out of it, I'm willing to work with people when it comes to be surviving on strictly a business level. You replace my food, plus you have me get to this settlement."

"I'll agree to your terms, as long as you agree to mine. That we travel together and have each others backs on the way to Virginia. And I'll replace any food of yours that I eat." Damon commented. "So, will you take me up on my offer or not. Will take the risk and go with me?"

"You've got yourself a deal, I'll go with you across country to Virginia, under certain conditions, but yes you if you agree to my terms, I'll guess I will have to go with yours." Bonnie muttered. "I accept your offer."

Damon lifted his eyes to the heavens. "Smart choice."

Bonnie firmly told him. "If you try to take something from me without my permission again or if you try to cross me in anyway then I won't spare your life the next time. Understand that just because I'm going with you, doesn't mean that I won't have my guard up around you."

Damon said. "I can understand that, and I'll earn your trust and prove that you will have no need to have your guard up around me.."

"Guess we'll see about that." Bonnie deadpanned.

"You won't regret keeping me alive, I can guarantee you." He stated.

Finally lowering her gun away from him, she holstered it.

Damon breathed a big sigh of relief at not having her handgun aimed at him anymore. "So, when do we start on our journey to this community?"

She eyed him. "We'll rest up tonight and then discuss strategy at first daybreak tomorrow and go from there."

"Sounds good to me, whatever works best for you." Damon gave her a thumbs up.

Bonnie just folded her arms over her chest.

"Oh and Damon by the way." Damon rattled out.

"Huh?" Bonnie narrowed her eyes.

"If we are going to be teaming up together, then we should know each other's names, right." Damon detailed. "I'm, Damon."

"Oh." Bonnie mumbled.

He cocked his head to the side. "Well, aren't you going to tell me your name?"

Pausing she shook her head and then answered. "Bonnie."

"Well, Bonnie it's nice to meet you." Damon greeted.

Bonnie couldn't say the same to him just yet, she would preserve her judgement and keep her guards up around him in the meantime.

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Thanks for those of you who reviewed/faved/followed this story so far! I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors that I missed.