Chapter Four

Shane wasn't sure what to think of Daryl Dixon.

When the Dixon brothers had joined their camp at the quarry, he couldn't help but be wary of them, especially the youngest who was covered in tattoos and had all the looks of a criminal. However, it became apparent only days into their stay that it was the eldest, not the youngest they needed to look out for. The oldest was loud and rude, and more often than not could be found arguing with one member of the camp or another. The younger was more quiet and really only spoke in sharp barbs and spent most of his time in the woods surrounding the camp, hunting. He'd be gone before the sun rose and wouldn't return to sun down, unless it was Sunday. Sunday mornings it was rare to see the youngest Dixon at all before the sun was high in the sky. When asked about it, Merle would wave them off and tell them it was none of their business.

However, since Merle's disappearance, he's noticed the hunter slowly integrating himself with the camp while still keeping a weary distance between them. The only person the man truly interacted with were the children, who he seemed unwilling to greet with the same sharpness in his voice that he greeted everyone else with. He had watched the man search fervently for Sophia after she went missing as if his life depended on it and now looking at the hunter he wasn't sure that it hadn't.

The hunter looked…empty.

His eyes more turbulent than any Georgian storm were blank, indifferent as he looked upon their group. His movements were as listless as the dead moving around them and Shane couldn't help but wonder why he seemed to be the only one that noticed it. Even Rick, who seemed to be the only one other than the children, to get a response from the man, didn't seem to notice.

At the moment, the man sat a bit away from them all, staring blankly into the fire he'd built in front of his own tent.

He looked lonely, and it made his heart twinge with something he couldn't identify.

Standing, the former cop walked over to the man and took a seat beside him, trying to ignore the glance Rick sent him from his place beside Lori.

"Are you alright?"

The hunter didn't look at him.

"Go away, Walsh."

Shane pursed his lips, wondering why he didn't feel the familiar rush of anger he normally felt when someone tried to brush him off. Instead that the twinge in his heart spread, twisting his gut into knots.

"No."

One baleful eye, the color of a summer storm, glared up at him, a tattooed hand clenching into a white-knuckled first. In the fire light the word tattooed on the man's right index finger seemed to stand out and Shane blinked.

"What does it mean?"

Daryl looked up with reluctant inquiry in his eyes and the former cop gestured to the tattoo on his hand.

"What does aequitas mean?" He repeated and the hunter stiffened, something haunted flashing in his gaze as his hand moved out of sight.

"Veritas et Aequitas," The Latin flowed smoothly off the younger man's tongue, the rough timbre of his voice making the other fight a shiver that wasn't wholly unpleasant. "It means Truth and Justice. C- I've had since I was 19."

Shane raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"What're ya doin', Walsh? Shouldn't ya be o'er there wit' Officer Friendly?" The hunter accent thickened, showing his annoyance and Shane smirked.

"You're more interesting." He replied shamelessly and Daryl narrowed his eyes at him.

"Ain't here to entertain ya."

The older male sighed and stood, knowing it would be better to leave before the hunter got too annoyed with him.

"Look, I just wanted to see if you were alright. You looked for that little girl harder than any of us, hell even harder than Rick. It's gotta be hard on you to find her like that."

Daryl looked up at him, something vulnerable in his eyes under all the bravado and Shane was pretty sure his heart broke at the younger man's question.

"Why do you care?"

"Daryl-"

"Merle didn't care, he left. God doesn't care, so why? You an' Rick are steady askin' me if I'm alright and being too- too friendly!"

"Because, like it or not Dixon, We're family."

Daryl's expression would've made him laugh…if it weren't so heart breaking.

Who had hurt the younger Dixon…and why did he want to fix it.

*CONNER*

Conner frowned warily as him and his Da followed the small group of men that had happened upon their camp.

The group, made of four men of varying body types had been out scouting and looking for survivors to bring back to their safezone, a place called Woodbury, and while his instincts screamed at him to get as far away from them as possible, there was something about the leader of the group, a burly one-handed man named, Merle, that made him stay were he was.

"I don' trust them." His father whispered softly and Connor nodded in agreement.

"But God sent us that one," He gestured to Merle who was arguing with the man beside him, "for a purpose."

Noah nodded and shouldered his pack higher upon his shoulder as they approached the looming gates of their new home.

As they reached in, it swung open and they were met with a lean muscled, dark haired man, wearing the devil's smile and eyes shrouded in a false kindness.

They fought not tense.

The Governor, despite what they'd been told, was not a good man.

They shared a look while the man spread his arms welcomingly.

"Welcome to Woodbury."

Connor stepped forward with a smile as fake as the kindness in the Governor's face.

"Happy to be here."

The farm had fallen.

Daryl's eyes burned viciously as he sped away from the burning farmhouse and the herd of walkers, Carol clinging to his back like her life depended on it.

"What are we gonna do?" She whispered, fear in her voice.

He trembled slightly, just as frightened but refusing to show it.

"I don't know."

The smell of smoke, decay, and burning flesh flooded his senses and for a moment the open road in front of him was replaced by cold basement walls and the heavy stench of blood, urine and an unmentionable musk that made his stomach turn.

He shuddered and gripped the handle bars of his bike harder.

"I really don't know."

TBC…

A/N: SHARICKYL IS THE OFFICIAL PAIRING FOR THIS ONE

Question because there are two ways this can go. They can meet at the prison or they can meet at Alexandria. Which way do you think it should go because I can't decide.

Also should Lori live or Die?

R&R