Chapter 2: Friends or foes

I have one review so far... Thank you! Now for chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its contents.

Recap: "Sophia!" Shouted a man, just as she had turned the corner. Everyone saw her one by one, and pointed their own gun at her, all for one who was in possession of a crossbow. She aimed her arrow at the nearest man's forehead, he had a shotgun rifle pointed at her.

"Drop your weapons, or I will release." Likari said lowly, watching the old man's eyes widen at her arrow.

"Can you be faster than a bullet?" One younger man asked, taking a step closer. She glanced at him, guessing he was in his early forties. He had a crazy glint in his eye, one that made her reconsider her aim, but stayed still. She was too stubborn to move, her old target will have to do. When the daring man took another step forward, she pulled her arm back, indicating that she was not going to back down.

"Put yer guns down, idiots." Said the redneck with the crossbow. "If you shoot and cause her to release that arrow, it won't miss." She studied the redneck, slightly annoyed by his accent. She grew up in a place where rednecks weren't welcome. She did see, however, that his looks were quite attractive. At his words, everyone lowered their weapons, allowing her to sigh inwardly in relief.

"I came to warn you all of your shouting." Likari said, lowering her bow. "There are walkers down the road." Just as she took her arrow away from her bow, the crazy eyed man raised his gun on her. She moved to redock her arrow, but stopped when she felt the gun barrel against her head. She dropped her bow and arrow at her feet and swallowed, mentally kicking herself for not just driving away and leave them to the walkers. She glared at him angrily.

"Damn it Shane, put that gun down!" The redneck growled. "She's unarmed, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"She's fast too." The man named Shane said, pushing her a step back with his gun. She gasped, unable to hide her fear any longer. Shane smirked at her show of fear. Likari shuddered, disgusted and terrified.

"Put the fucking gun down." The redneck said in a dangerously low threatening tone. Shane glared into her eyes and tightened his hold on the trigger. She shut her pale blue eyes and held her breath, waiting for the shot. He huffed and holstered the gun, laughing at her terrified expression. Then he backed away from her, still laughing. She did her best to contain her shaking as she bent and to pick up her weapon. She kept it low on her side, and began to back away from the group.

"You can get eaten alive for all I care." She said, looking at Shane. "Walkers will be here in no time with all that shouting." Her voice trembled, betraying her attempt to sound intimidating.

"You can't just keep your mouth shut can you, girl?" He shouted as he strode towards her. The redneck stepped in front of her, facing him.

"Back off." He growled in warning. Shane glared at him, than her, then walked away. The shouting continued, and Likari threw her head in frustration, before turning to leave.

"Wait." Redneck said, blocking her path. "Where do you think yer goin?"

"Away from here." She said lightly, walking around him. He didn't stop her, but followed instead. "The walkers are within sight and coming this way. Soon they'll hear all that idiotic shouting, and I will not be here for the feast."

He roughly grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "That 'idiotic shoutin' is so we can find the little girl that was lost." He said loudly, angrily.

She hung her head. "I am sorry. I can help. When I leave here I'll get that hoards attention to guide them away."

"That's too dangrous." He said. "How do you expect to get out alive?" She pointed to her car with her free arm, and he nodded in understanding. "Do you have a designation?" He asked, releasing her arm.

"No. I've been on the road since this started. I hope to find sanctuary away from all this."

"Are you alone?" He asked. She nodded and he shook his head in disbelief. "It's not safe for a young attractive woman such as yerself to travel alone. Not just walkers, but men too."

"What am I supposed to do?" She said, shrugging. "Was I supposed to wait for someone to rescue me?"

He sighed and eyed her weapons and her cautious stance. She was smart in choosing a silent weapon. Though he did not know how precise her shots were, he knew she had made it this far alone. Her social skills could use a little work, however. "I'm Daryl." He said holding out his hand. She eyed him suspiciously, as he grinned.

"Likari." She finally said, shaking his hand.

"Why don't you join us? I'll make sure the big bad Shane don't harm you." He added with a grin. She looked frightened at first, then happy. Then confused, making Daryl wonder what could be going through her mind. " I assure you, he's the only bad egg."

She giggled a little, then shook her head. "I can take him." They shared a laugh and her face darkened as she looked in the distance. "I'll stay with you, but we need to get out of here soon."

"No, we need to find Sophia first." He said, now serious and stubborn.

"Alright, I have a plan. I'll lead them away, and meet you all in the search when I get them far enough."

"I'll go with you. And we can search for her on our way back."

She nodded and unlocked her car before jumping in, and waited for him before starting her ever so silent car. He got in the passenger seat and watched the distant walkers as they drove to them. She revved her engine, being sure to catch all of their attentions before driving away from the search site. When she felt they were well out of earshot. She sped forward, far enough to safely get out of the car. She hurriedly grabbed a cell phone she kept in the glove box and turned the power on. Then she set the loudest alarm time to go off a minute later than it's time. She jumped out of the car and set it gently on the asphalt. she shut her door, noisily, when she got back in to keep their attention. When the phone alarm sounded, she sped in the distance, turning the car into a side road and crept the rest of the way, knowing that they were grouping around the phone. She disappeared into the trees and proceeded to drive quietly until they got halfway back. They silently exited the car and headed the rest of the way on foot, weapons at the ready. Soon they heard shouts, and saw they weren't the only ones. Five walkers were heading toward the sound. They wasted no time sending arrows into their heads, dropping the walkers one by one. As they retrieved their arrows, Likari grinned.

"What's so amusin?" Daryl asked as he wiped his arrows on his pants, noticing how she did not shudder in disgust as she wiped hers clean on the grass. Her shots were just as precise as his, never missing the targets.

"I got three of those five walkers." She said, her grin widening as he frowned.

"Are we havin a contest?" He asked disbelievingly. She just laughed and went to grab her last arrow. Before either of them heard or had time to react, she was knocked on the ground by a walker that had fallen out of the brush to get to her. It was missing a foot. It snapped at her face and she desperately tried to push it off, doing the best she could to keep it from biting her face. An arrow flew and stuck it in the head, re-killing it instantly. It fell limp on her, the heavy body knocking the wind out of her lungs. Daryl pulled it off and helped her up as she took deep breaths.

"Did it bite you?" He asked as he dusted her off and examined her trembling body. She shook her head, looking at the ground and tried to take deep breaths, fighting the anxiety attack that had inevitably started. He held her in his arms for a moment, knowing the signs of anxiety, and then held her by the shoulders and waited until she looked up at him with her frightened face. "Guess what?" He asked her. She questioned him with her eyes. "We're tied."

All traces of fear and anxiety wiped from her face and a genuine smile replaced it. He was surprised that a game made her so happy. Then he figured she was probably enjoying company, as she had fought to live for so long, alone. He couldn't imagine how hard it was, or had been for her, but he knew he wanted to help her, and possibly get to know her. He, of course, found her to be attractive, as he was a man. The women in his little group were married, or unstable, in one way or the other. Carol had been in a domestic abuse marriage, changed her from whoever she once was, to the "skit" she was now. Not to mention the outbreak couldn't possibly have done any good to her psyche. Andrea was way too trigger happy with a short fuse for his taste. He was never one for a "woe is me" kind of girl, who you never know when she will carry out her suicidal threat. Again, the outbreak, and losing her sister couldn't have done any good on her either.

Likari seemed pretty stable, he could tell she was afraid, but fear had not stopped her from attaining her goal. Whether that goal be to survive, or meet up with people. She sure was a dark natured woman. From what he saw, she was only dark in her appearance, her interest. On the inside, she had a heart of gold. He could tell just by the look in her eyes, she was also tough. He took a liking to tough women, never really cared for the ones he would have to be a voice on the shoulder constantly. Not this one, he realized. This one had her own voice, and a good one too.

They walked silently, side by side, ever watchful of their surroundings. Daryl knew they drove out pretty far, giving them twenty minutes to walk back to the group.

"Have any family?" He asked finally, wanting to converse before getting back. Likari laughed, shaking her head.

"Why is that funny?" He asked, rethinking her sanity.

"I was the black sheep, I left them when I turned eighteen. Then I moved as far away from them as I could." She said, a smirk on her face.

"How long has it been since you spoke to them?" He asked, watching ahead as they walked.

"Since I left." She shrugged. "About eight years ago."

He nodded. She was sane in all of this because she was used to doing things alone. Unless... "Got a boyfriend?"

He could tell by her smirk she was holding back another laugh. "I broke up with him the night before the attacks started." He looked at her, an unsaid question in his eyes. "I don't like liars."

"He cheat?"

"Nope. He bragged about past events that never happened. Always told stories to make himself look like a "cool" man. Bull-shitting is lying, and immature."
It was Daryl's turn to chuckle. "What's with all the questions?" Likari asked, shooting him a sideways glance.

"I'm just curious about my new friend, that's all." He said, throwing his arm around her shoulder in a very buddy like way. She shook her head, with a shy smile on her face, and they continued their search. When they reached their group, they heard a gunshot. Likari jumped slightly, Daryl removed his arm and looked at her a moment before running the rest of the way with her following close behind.

(A/N: I had fun with the suggestions, took me 20 minutes to save this chapter so I could go through each suggestion to see if it would make my story better... Any one agree? O.o