Thanks to moonlite1serenade, animefangirl0219, WaterBabe15, The Wicked Siren, ShadowNightStar, Nova Bucker, FormofJane, FanFicGirl10, kore12191 and Leyshla Gisel for following this story. And thanks to Leyshla Gisel for reviewing both chapters, I need the encouragement!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC

The dreadful feeling that creeps upon a person as they enter the room; Ajax was feeling it. She wasn't entering a room of course, but a small clearing situated beside a quarry. Even through the dark night she could make out the shining faces through the pale of the moon. Some were mistrusting while others were grateful. She cared neither here nor there, though the fellow she suspected to be in charge at the moment looked like he was ready to attack her as if she were a threat. Her eyes traveled through the familiar faces until landing upon Rick, who was more willing to invite her over. She had to walk passed the destruction and decay, and worse the weeping woman knelt down in the earth. Ajax feet were like lead weights as she passed the reality from the result of the ambush. Behind her lenses she gazed at the broken woman, knowing she would be of no use to her given any choice of words to offer. It was difficult to keep walking, but already she had dwindled too long.

Rick gave a strained smile as she approached, "We were wondering where you went off to." He said as she stood in front of him and his group. The first thing she noticed was how closely attached everyone was to him, and how much it seemed to bother the other cop.

"Who's this we?" She asked half joking, "Sorry I wandered off, but I had to get my bag."

He held up his hand, "It's no problem, but I just wanted to get to the introductions. A stranger walks into camp and the people get restless."

"Of course." Suddenly she felt as if she was in school, standing in front of the classroom as they watched her, "You can call me Ajax." She said aloud though to no one in particular.

A few made grumbled responses, mainly because it wasn't the proper time for introductions. Friends and family members had just been slain and Ajax wasn't really in friendly spirits either, "Everyone else I suspect can make their own introductions when they feel up to it. For now though, this is my wife Lori and our son Carl." Said Rick.

Lori looked burnout, but she threw up a smile on her face none the less, "Thank you for your help, both here and back in Atlanta." Her eyes were sunken into her narrow face, and she had discolored bags forming under her eyes. She was a thin woman, fair in face as it were if it wasn't for the fact that she looked ready to collapse. The flannel shirt clung to her small shoulders, and it was easily three sizes too large for her lithe frame. A nervous habit she seemed to have developed was rubbing her wrists absentmindedly, but otherwise she was a strong partner to her husband. The tension was palpable between them, but Ajax didn't want to delve any further into that than she had to.

Ajax also realized she hadn't really done much in Atlanta that warranted thanks, but the gesture was heartfelt and she took it, "I will try and help as best I can before I leave."

Lori frowned, "You aren't staying permanently?"

"It's a long story. One I will get to when things are less hectic, I promise you that." For whatever reason, the woman seemed bothered when being kept out of the loop, so she turned to her son, leading him back to the other children by the RV.

Rick turned a fatigued look to her, "Well, do you think you can help Daryl get a handle on cleanup?"

She sighed, "You keep sending me over to him and he's going to get annoyed."

"Nah, he's already annoyed."

"Rick!" A voice called, "Can I talk to you for a moment?" It was the same copper from earlier who had been firing the gun. Up close and personal, Ajax was able to get a better look at his features and she had to admit that he wore the Hell out of those cargo pants. His face was made up of much vigor, and he was grinding his firm jaw back and forth. As he passed, she was tossed a foul look, one that froze her blood cold in her veins.

Rick began to walk a distance with the man, though the tensing in his shoulders told her nothing good was going to come from that talk, "He don't like you already." Ajax turned to see Daryl standing beside her, biting his thumb nail while watching Shane in what she could only describe as contempt.

"What gave that away?" She snorted, "I have a bad feeling that I'm the topic of that conversation." She continued to watch the feud as they got right in each other's faces. Rick looked to be keeping his composure, but the other man was irate and his face was burning red. Ajax found her feet moving before she could think, and she strode right up to the argument, "Excuse me, I don't think we've been introduced." She said to the man while blocking Rick with her back.

AT first he stood with his mouth agape before his eyes narrowed in on her covered face, and it was a look that would have had her wincing had she been exposed, "Shane." He thrust his hand out, but it was just a formality.

"Forgive me if I don't shake hands." She said while taking a step back, "I don't really care who you are, and you don't seem to give a shit about who I am either, so let's skip the awkward introductions."

"Look here Ajax, we don't have enough resources to be feeding another mouth, not after what happened. We appreciate what you did and all, but I think you've just wasted your bullets in thinking it could get you free food."

"Oh?!" She laughed coldly, "Is that what you think, that I want recompense for saving a group of strangers?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think." He placed his hands firmly on his low hips, and she would have thought the gesture to be feminine on anyone who wasn't Shane.

"Well, let me clue you in on something 'Shane', I'm not going to be around her long enough to usurp your food, so don't get your pretty panties into a bunch."

Feeling successful in putting him in his place, she backed down, but just as she was about to turn around, she caught the look on Ricks face knowing she had made a critical error. Shane lunged and she sidestepped just in time before catching the end of his fist. On instinct, she reached for her Beretta and she had it pointing in his enraged face. He was breathing hot air out through his nose like a panting bull, and his hands were raised at his sides, "Make a move asshole." She growled.

"Alright, that's enough." Rick commanded as he came up by her side, slowly reaching for her arm and bringing it down again. Her fist was shaking tightly as the gun was held in her tight palm, but neither she nor Shane broke eye contact, "Ajax, go and help Daryl and Glenn now. I don't wanna have to break the two of you apart again."

She shrugged away from Rick while stowing her gun away again. Shane finally backed off, and that's when they both noticed that Daryl and Glenn, along with the rest of camp had been watching their row, "What the Hell are y'all staring at!" Shane barked. Puffing like dragon, he wandered away from both Rick and Ajax.

She pulled away from Rick as well, and caught the gaze of the older gentlemen by the RV, who was watching Shane walk away with concern and mistrust. Apparently she hadn't been the only one to feel the danger that came off that man in droves, "Fucking asshole." She murmured. Her booted feet began to lead her away, and she hung her head low as she set her lips in a firm line.

Glenn had caught up to her now, and Daryl was behind them, most likely ready to eavesdrop on what she had to say, "Who the Hell are you?!" Glenn cried exasperated.

"What?" She scowled. He looked pale as paper, and his dark eyes were dilated in disbelief as he threw his hands up into the air. He was covered in grime, and much of what was left of his white shirt now looked red and black from blood and gore.

"You come charging in like Callahan, ready to take Shane's head off within five minutes of being here." Glenn shook his head, "People aren't going to trust you."

"Like I care." She snapped back. Ajax did care, perhaps a little too much, but it wasn't his or anyone else's business, "Mark my words that man is going to end up on the other side of a gun, whether it's his own or someone else's."

"Lucky son'a'bitch that you didn't catch his fist. You would've landed on your ass with them skinny chicken legs of yours." A smirk was riding Daryl's lips as he passed, causing Ajax to turn and glare at Glenn.

"The Hell!? You didn't say anything did you?" She hissed.

Glenn frowned at her outburst, "Oh yeah, the first person I went to talk to was Daryl. Geez, the guy calls me 'Chinaman', we aren't exactly best friends."

"Alright, alright." She held up her hands in surrender, "My legs aren't really that skinny though…are they?"

Glenn turned to her with an incredulous look, "Women; whether they're in a dress or man's clothes, they still worry about how they look." She rolled her eyes and continued to follow him. The dead bodies of walkers were littered on every square inch they passed, and already the smell was hitting the air something fierce.

"What are we going to do with all the bodies?" She asked aloud, while looking down at the mangled face of one by her feet.

"Move them to a plot of land and burn them. The smell isn't gonna be pretty, but beggars can't be chooser I guess." Glenn said with a small shrug, "I think we should bury the people we know." Ajax raised her eyes to his face and he looked as ragged as she felt. The part of him that still held human connections was intact, and she couldn't spot any problem with wanting to separate family and friends from the walkers, though she also knew it wasn't her place to say.

Another man came up to join them, and she recognized him as the same fellow she had saved earlier from the swarming walkers. He gave a soft smile that went well on his round face, "I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you."

Her shoulders slouched in defeat, "Ah, if it's another thank you, I'm going to have to pass."

He chuckled, "I'm sorry, but I insist. I was overwhelmed back there, and you really saved my ass. I'm Morales." He held out his plump hand and she pumped it twice in her gloved one, "You're a small fella." He noted.

"Unhealthy." She brushed aside carefully before Morales could comment.

"Y'all just gonna stand there, or are we gonna get this done?!" Daryl shouted, his face screwed into a scowl while being covered in dirt and sweat.

"He always this friendly?" mused Ajax.

"You'd best shut up Canada." The burly man muttered under his breath.

"Trust me Dixon, you were meant to hear that." His eyes bored holes into her head while he bit the inside of his cheek. Ajax thought it gave him the impression of chewing on something sour, and it made her grin behind her scarf.

Glenn strode back to her other side while Morales was on her right, "You better stop with that or he'll wash your mouth out with soap." Glenn warned.

"Well, if he could find any, I'd be in his debt."

"In debt to a Dixon, damn that gives me the shivers." Glenn said with a head shake.

They got down to the dirty work as the day ate up the night slowly in small mouthfuls. The lifting was done in intervals to first get the bodies away from camp while many of the women and children made an attempt at sleep. Rick also thought it was a wise idea for each of them to take a small time for a nap to recover their strength. Daryl and Ajax had refused, and apparently Rick didn't follow his own advice that he preached because he was helping with the lifting before and after Glenn returned from some well needed rest.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ajax had been observing Shane as he worked with T-Dog. He was watching her too, even though he had missed her secretly looking. Where all the animosity had come from, she was still scratching her head on that, but she knew it then that they would never be comrades for the duration of her stay.

"I got the feet." Glenn said, breaking her out of her thoughts. She held the walker up by the forearms and they swung it back and forth before throwing it into the pile with the others.

Dew was clinging to the leaves on the trees and the orange of the sun was just visible at the horizon. They had been up all night, with many thanks to adrenaline still kicking through their systems. Rick was nearby, rubbing his arm over his forehead as he and T-Dog finished moving the last of the walkers out from camp. The people were early risers here, that or they couldn't deal with the horrors when they slept. The man in the Hawaiian shirt was coming over from his RV, with his hat crumpled in his hand. He looked muddled, but smiled despite that, even when he passed the blond woman on the ground who had yet to move from her position over the prone body.

"What time is it Dale?" Rick asked as the man settled in front of them.

"Just passed seven." He smiled uneasy while looked at a worn leather watch on his wrist. Ajax had never thought of keeping track of time now—it seemed silly because there was nothing to be late for, but she supposed there was something to be said about organization and time was still relevant in that contrast, "I thought maybe that our new guest would want a few hours to sleep off the stress after working for so long."

"That's kind of you." Ajax replied while turning to the now acquainted Dale, "I'm fine like this though. I've had my fill of sleep back at Heavenly Grace."

He nodded somewhat dejectedly, though she doubted if it had anything to do with her answer. His gaze often lingered back at the two women on the ground, and she pegged him to be a friend of theirs. The man was too nervous to go over though, and dammit if everyone else wasn't too. The woman might have been in shock, and she hadn't moved an inch other than the ragged sobs that escaped her lips every passing hour or so. There was no doubt that the girl sprawled on the dirt was already dead, and she would be changing in a matter of time to one of the wretched walkers. Dale rubbed his peppered beard and slapped his fishers' hat back onto his dome head, "Well, I'll just leave you all to work then."

Shane came striding in after him, and Dale threw a look over his shoulder at the man before the distance grew too great. Ajax made a point of moving away from his person as he joined in the circle, and she felt the hard look he sent her through her hood. Daryl made a sound in noticing, but didn't say anything on the matter. "I think we should decide who gets buried and who gets burned." Glenn said, "Some of these people were family and friends, and they don't deserve to burn with those things."

"They were all people once Glenn." Shane pointed out.

"You know what I mean!" He rebuked.

Rick heaved a sigh while running his hands back through his hair, "Alright. Load the to-be-buried into the back of Daryl's truck. Burn the rest."

Daryl made some argument that no one seemed to be listening to, until he finally gave up with a look of malice and a pickaxe in hand. Apparently he was going to double check that everything was 'dead', but it looked more to Ajax that he need something to take his frustrations out on, and walkers were a good substitute. Glenn and Morales started to heave bodies into the bed of the beat down truck, and it seemed to satisfy everyone that the smell in the air had dissipated.

"Ajax, go and sit for a moment and have Lori fix you something to eat. We don't have much I'm afraid, but you'll keel over in this heat if you don't get something in ya son."

There was no point in arguing with the look on Ricks face, so she trudged back to the small fire by a pitched tent in the campsite. Lori was present with Carl, along with the rest of the women and children. She was tossed some furtive glances, but she didn't feel angered by that. It was common for women to be weary of a stranger, especially one they thought was a male, and she knew she would have behaved the same way, "Hi James." Lori smiled invitingly. Ajax frowned at the sound of her fiancés name.

"How did you—"

"Rick told me your real name before he introduced you." She answered before she could finish her sentence.

"Ah, of course he did." She sat down on the leafy ground, while crossing her legs in a guru fashion, "So did he save me some time in storytelling, or do I still have to start from the beginning?"

"I know you are looking for your fiancé, and that's really the only admirable answer I need, though it's a pity you can't stay long." She frowned suddenly, "Listen to me, telling you what to do when we don't even know our next move."

"So none of you have decided on where to go from here?"

"No, at least, not yet. It's something that has to come up after all this." Her eyes faded as she looked out at camp, and once again it seemed like everyone was watching the inconsolable woman.

"What's her name?" asked Ajax.

"Andrea. That was her younger sister Amy."

Ajax couldn't breathe; she sat shell-shocked as she watched the sobbing woman, who was red in the face from tears and lack of sleep. It was like watching the same scene of a movie over and again, as nothing had changed except the setting around them. People moved around her, pretending to ignore her cries now for their own sake of mind. It had been easy to tell that they had been sisters, but hearing the words hadn't prepared her for the wave of emotions that crashed down upon her. Her hopes were already dissolved and there wasn't much of a chance of her ever finding James, but it was the only foreseeable goal for her otherwise meaningless existence, and if that went away, she'd be no more than a dead body.

"It must be love." She mumbled softly.

Her eyes turned back to the small group around the fire and she found Lori observing her with a keen gaze that made a cold sweat build at the back of her neck. That piercing glance could see right through her very soul, and she found she had to look somewhere else, "Do your children still learn?" She asked for more of a subject change than out of interest.

"We tutor them as best we can, me and Carol." Lori nudged her head towards the woman with the short silver hair. She wasn't listening in on the conversation, but rather was watching the bodies on the ground, the ones that Daryl had already driven a pickaxe through their skulls. She stood up from her seat on the log, patting her honey haired daughter on the head before her feet led her in the direction of Daryl fucking Dixon himself. He seemed mildly shocked when she approached, and he stood straighter while his crossbow dug into his back. Carol was handed the large axe in hand, and she took it to the body on the ground, hesitating before driving it deep into the brainpan. There was something rewarding about the look in her eyes, it was complete and utter freedom.

"He was her husband." Ajax whispered.

"Did Rick tell you?" asked Lori.

"No, but I saw the emotions on her face. A look of conflict like that is only shown in a woman because of a man. He brings out the best…and worst in her; it just can't be helped."

Lori was stunned into silence, but she was giving Ajax that same pensive glance that tore through her body. With a quick thanks to the Mrs. Grimes, she headed away from the fire, intent on keeping distant from it there on out. She did circles around camp, first heading up to the burial, where they still awaited the arrival of Amy's body. Shane had attempted to reason with Andrea, but received the blunt answer of her gun in his face. Ajax remembered grinning at that.

She hadn't the desire to speak with anyone at the moment, and so had settled down with her butt against the truck of a tree. Sleep was starting to creep up on her now, but she didn't want to rest when she knew she had to head out again soon. Where her journey would next take her was yet uncertain, and she decided to just let her feet carry her away somewhere else.

Someone had moved in close without her hearing, and she gazed up to catch Daryl leaning against another tree just a few short steps away. His stare was blank and he said nothing, while betraying nothing in his facial expression. He was such a stoic and Zen motherfucker during all this that it was truly a riveting performance to behold. Ajax fitted her stare back to the ground once, smiling slightly in spite of herself, "I suspect you didn't come up here to chat."

He crossed his arms over his chest, while his eyes hardened, "Nah, I'm supposed to drag your ass back for a meetin'. We gotta clear out and go someplace else."

"Since when am I a part of this?" Her voice was tired, and he must have noticed too, as his look turned to something unnerving, "Or does Rick decide where I go now too?"

"Get the fuck outta here if you don't wanna stay." Daryl grunted, "Ain't anyone stopping ya Canada."

"Then why are you here?" She shot back, "No one's stopping you from going after your brother, so why do you linger?"

He lifted his lip in the smallest hint of a snarl and she raised a brow in challenge, "Too fuckin' small for your own good. Wouldn't even be a fair fight."

She huffed, "I already have a problem with Shane, I don't have time to have beef with you. Must be something new for you though; having someone not mistrusting you. Too bad I won't be around long for you to enjoy it."

He began to pace, a frequent pass time for him it would seem. He was close to saying something, it was on the tip of his tongue, but Daryl Dixon never got the words out, and he snapped his lips shut again while running a hand through his dishevelled hair, "Look, just get yer ass down there and hear what he has to say. You ain't got any better option Canada, so don't be fuckin' stupid." He spat.

She stood up from the tree, stretching out her legs, and finally looking up at Daryl who was watching her oddly, "Thanks for that. I sometimes get stupid, and I just need to be told Imma fuckin' idiot." She tried her best impression at a Southern accent, and had failed miserably judging by the look on Dixon's face, "It was that bad huh?"

"Yer a hopeless scrawny ass Canuck."

She shrugged offhandedly, "Hope isn't something I throw around a lot these days, as I'm ridden with despair." She rattled on dramatically, while stalking away towards the desolate camp.

Daryl watched the lanky fella leave. He wasn't at all ready to go and listen to another argument between those people, fuckin' getting caught in the tangle of their lives and what not. They could grin about the simplest of things, while arguing over another matter. It was all fuckin' bullshit, and goddamn Canada was right; why in the Hell was he stayin' here? He growled like a mad man, and took a step to leave, only to find his boot landing on something small and square. He knelt down in place, picking up the small slip into his large palm before turning it over. He wanted to remain grounded, but Hell be damned if it wasn't Canada's picture he found with him and the skinny bitch. The problem was, she wasn't no malnourished, disgusting skank that he tried to play her out to be. They didn't make girls like that where he came from, at least, not on his side of the tracks. All fuckin' neat, prim and proper no doubt, yet he couldn't shake the damn excitement about seeing that rosy face of hers. Silly as it sounded, it had been one of the reasons he went talkin' to Canada; wanted to ask if he could see that picture one last time, but there ain't no way in Hell he would have been able to ask that without sounding like a pussy. Smitten by a Cherry babe from a picture, Lordy would Merle have had a laugh at his expense. He realized he had stopped moving since he had picked the picture up, and it would look damn strange if anyone caught him. He pocketed the picture into his back pocket, if only for safe keepin' until he could return it back to that fuckin' Canuck with the chicken legs.

The last opened vein, was a call to your savior you ended
Lost but in time, I knew you would end this like you meant it
Please say you know that, you know that
You'll grow cold tonight, you'll grow old and die

Dove Colored Sky, The Neverending White Lights...

And there you have it! Another long chapter for me, as I try to slowly work Ajax into the group. She knows more of the people, but she hasn't really made any new friends yet, but I have to be realistic when shoving her into this group. Let me know how it's going, I dropped the rating for now, but it will inevitably go back up, because I almost always write rate M stories.