"Now wait a damn moment." Daryl said as he climbed out of the window right after Katniss.

"What?" She stared down the external stairs, observing the trail of blood streaming down the alley.

"You sure you don't wanna get goin'?" It was the 4th time he asked in less than ten minutes and her response was always the same, a single stare.

"Alright, alright. I just don't want you yapping 'bout how I forced you to stay-"

"Shut up, Dixon. Just help me find your brother so I can go back to camp and take care of my sister." She walked down a couple of steps with her arrow in hand ready for any walkers to pop out of random places.

Daryl rolled his eyes, following behind with crossbow at hand looking around.

"How'd you get good at tracking?" Daryl asked a when they reached the end of the alley.

Katniss raised her finger to her lips and pointed. Daryl stuck his head out and found 10 walkers scattered in the street. Just with a nod Katniss quietly jogged across the street into another alley with Daryl following right after. The two stopped next to a trash bin away from the entrance to the alley.

"We have three hours to search before we have to take shelter. Snooping around here at night gets me nervous so we either hurry our asses up or we'll be eaten ourselves. I suggest we head on over to those apartments three streets down within the hour and search if there's any room we can stay at." Katniss whispered keeping her eyes peeled at the streets as she talked.

Daryl squinted his eyes looking at the woman barking orders and sighed, giving a single nod.

"Yes ma'am."

There was no point in arguing when he knew how risky things got after dark. Plus, neither of them had remembered to bring a flashlight so the apartments was their best bet.

After an hour and a half of searching the duo had no luck in finding Merle. Instead they found a small apartment up on the fourth floor. They cleared the place in less than five minutes locking the doors with a stove and dryer for safety right behind them. The bed was filled with blood so they decided to stay in the living room on the pull out bed the couch had.

"You gotta be kiddin' me." Daryl rolled his eyes.

Katniss had suggested in sleeping on the floor for the millionth time.

"You wanna hurt that back of yours then whatever. I'm gonna be on this here bed sleeping soundly not giving a rats ass that you're miserable during the night." Daryl happily sighed laying down on the mattress and stretched his arms to the sky.

Katniss sighed, rolling her eyes as she picked up her sweater from the floor and dropped the fabric on the bed. She created a small pillow with it crawling right next to Daryl. She immediately rested her eyes when she placed her head on the pillow. It had been ages since she last slept on a mattress. They had sleeping bags for the first months the apocalypse began but now had nothing and settled for the ground.

"Never thought I'd be sleeping next to you." She admitted.

"Consider yourself lucky, darlin." Daryl grinned.

Katniss rolled her eyes not believing that she got herself into this mess. Only if she kept her mouth shut she could have been in her tent with her sister resting.

"Don't start gropin' me in your sleep, darlin'. If you gonna touch me do it while I'm awake. I wanna be con-"

"Just shut up, Dixon. I swear the next time you say anything related to me groping you I'm either going to find my own room to sleep in or your ass is going to be hanging off the balcony."

Daryl sighed heavily as a response.

An hour sped by of the two hunters laying next to each other silently pretending to be asleep when finally Daryl spoke.

"Still makes no sense on why the hell you came with me. Thought you hated my guts."

"That doesn't mean I can't come with." Stated Katniss.

"What's in it for you? What you got a bet goin' on with someone. Tell me why you wanted to come along so damn badly?"

Katniss thought for a second.

"I came with because if my sister went missing I would want any help I could get." She admitted.

Usually she hated other people and did anything possible to avoid conversations with the group but in a crisis they would be her best bet. Daryl stayed quiet.

"If it were the other way around... I woulda stayed back at the camp."

"No you wouldn't"

Daryl looked over to Katniss with a frown.

"You're many things, Daryl. You're an asshole, uneducated hick, and a dipshit at times. But cruel isn't you." Katniss glued her eyes to the ceiling.

It was rare for her to give out compliments so he'd better take advantage. The two said nothing. Instead Daryl turned on his side, having his back face Katniss and looked at the wall with a small smile imprinted on his lips.

The night sped by quickly giving Daryl and Katniss plenty of time to rest and prepare for the morning. Both of them snuck behind walkers and kept away from herds that always formed on the main streets. They went from building to building empty handed. The temperature rose making it impossible for them to continue running through the cramped alleys.

"What's your plan, Dixon?" Katniss whispered when they cleared out one of the rooms.

"Whata mean?" Daryl frowned.

"Where to? East? West? How many buildings do we have to look or when are we heading bac-"

"Hey, if you don't wanna be here anymore then you can ge-"

"Relax. I'm not saying anything. I just want to know what the hell the plans are before I run out of ammo and start making my own damn weapons."

Daryl rolled his eyes, ignoring the question and looked down at the streets from the window.

"How long?" Katniss pressed.

"Until I find my brother! I don't need your ass, if you wanna get then get. Ain't no one holdin' you back." Daryl pushed through the next room shooting his arrow through the skull of a walker that popped into the door.

"Calm down" Katniss glanced different locations to check if any walkers heard the yelling.

"Don't tell me whata do, girl!" Daryl stepped forward, eyes flashing red.

The day was long, Daryl's worry for his brother got worse, and to top it all off he was being ordered around by some girl.

"I'm not going to tell you again." Katniss kept her voice low.

Daryl stared her down.

"Or what?"

Katniss didn't hesitate in raising her small handgun that she kept on her waist. She pressed the weapon right against his forehead.

"Don't test me, Dixon." She mumbled.

"You won't." He said confidently.

"You sure about that? I've shot a lot of people that I care about. After the fifth kill to a very close friend of mine, I've become really numb to this sort of shit. So I suggest you take a fucking breather and calm the hell down before you kill both of us. Understand?" Katniss clicked off the safety, pressing the weapon deeper into his skin.

Daryl breathed deeply, nodding once and backed away from her.

"How about you lower the gun then?" He asked.

"The gun stays up until I see that you calmed down." Katniss responded quickly.

Daryl leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and breathed slowly to relax his anger. He placed his palms on his knees, bending over and exhaled loudly. From the looks of things they weren't going to find Merle anytime soon. The city was huge and it would be impossible to pass through all the walkers without getting caught. Merle was a tough son of a bitch. If anybody could make it in this horrid world, it'd be him. There'd be a huge chance that he probably headed back to their camp or went down fighting. But the idea of his brother lying in a street somewhere ripped apart didn't set well with Daryl. Instead he shook his head, inhaled deeply and looked up at Katniss. She had already lowered the gun and walked two steps to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"We'll keep searching."

"The city is too big. It's impossible." Daryl frowned.

"We'll give it another day. Tomorrow we can go a little further north. There's some apartments that he could have gone to." She suggested.

"What about your sister?" He knew how important her little sister was to her. He didn't want to be the reason to keep them away from each other.

"I guess you owe me one." She shrugged, heading out the door.

Daryl smirked, following Katniss.