Perched in a tree, I aimed my rifle at the head of a raccoon. With a light squeeze what sounded like a puff of air resounded. It was quiet enough that anyone or anything far away wouldn't hear but if something was close by it would easily pinpoint my location. After all, a silencer can only do but so much. Quickly climbing down the tree I retrieved my dinner before scurrying away. I had always been extremely cautious, never staying in the same place for too long. In fact sleep had become a luxury for me. When it did happen it was for an hour at best, usually in the hours that the sun was up. My greatest fear was that a zombie would catch me off guard at night so I spent my nights on guard. Running from my original spot I stayed as quiet as possible an kept an eye out for any threats. My steps had been so silent and light that no one would have suspected that a person passed through. That was until an arrow came whizzing past my head and into a squirrel in treeing front of me. Coming to an abrupt stop, I tried to mask my fear as I clutched the hilt of my machete.

"Who's there?" I growled trying to sound as intimidating as possible. Stepping out of the bushes was a tall man with a crossbow pointed at my chest. "I'm not looking for trouble." the stranger said "I just want to get my catch." Slowly we circled one another until he stood beside the tree and retrieved his squirrel. Making sure he stayed at a respectable distance I sized up the stranger. He had that typical southern redneck look to him. His sleeves were ripped off exposing his strong tan biceps that were tense as he held his bow. I held his gaze as his bright blue eyes stared into mine. He didn't seem like a threat to me.

"I didn't even see you coming." he said, his crossbow now pointed at the ground. This eased some of the tension I was feeling because I loosened my grip on my machete. "It's alright. I didn't see you either." I replied.

"You alone?" the stranger asked. "If you are, we got a group of people. There's women and children too."

In the time that I have been on my own I have been pretty lonely but in that time I have seen what people are capable of. I never got involved but I saw enough to know that not everyone has good intentions. Maybe it's just because I'm from New York, where everything is a heartless money barter. I was raised to be skeptic. Still, I decided to take a leap of faith and followed him. I kept a close eye on him as I trailed behind him and kept my hand on my gun. The closer we got to his camp the more I could hear children playing. Now that I knew he was being legit and I didn't have to kill him in the woods I took this opportunity to introduce myself.

"My name's Dolores. You?" I said as politely as possible.

"Daryl. Yer not from these parts are you?" he ask glancing back at me.

"No, I'm fro-"

Before I could finish, a man with at cap that said cop came jogging to us. "Daryl who is this?" he said cautiously looking me up and down. "I'm Dolores." I answered cordially

Shane as he had introduced himself sighed and ran his hand down his face. "Usually I don't like the idea of newcomers but I'll make an exception." Looking down he saw the dead raccoon I had tucked between my belt an shorts. "You hunt?"

"Yeah. It's something I picked up in my travels." Smirking, Shane looked me up and down again but in a way that just made my skin crawl. "Good. Nice to know you got something to offer. Let's introduce you to the rest of the group." Shane lead me to them with his hand on the small of my back. I quickly brushed him off and acted as if he never touched me.