Dolores' P.O.V.

In the 3 weeks that I've stayed with the group one thing I realized is that they have barley seen the extent of what this world. All of them seem to be trying desperately to live a normal life. They have a little 'school' set up and most of them (mainly the women) walk around unarmed. Some don't even have knifes on them. They just walk around like they're in Pleasantville. Some of the other women were even a little perturbed by me waling around constantly armed with my machete and gun. As nice as it is to sleep at nights again I didn't trust Dale with my safety. I could only handle but so much of this false security in their patriarchy society.

The only reason I can sleep at night is because I know that Daryl is a light sleeper and usually sit outside at night. He is someone I know I can trust. During my stay we have gotten friendlier. He became my hunting buddy as well. That is until his brother wanted to go out hunting, which was rare seeing as he preferred to to be doped up over doing a minimal amount of work. Merle becomes an even bigger asshole when he's like that but I can easily deal with it. Being a New Yorker I learned to ignore others with ease. If I could handle the Christian zealots and singing men in cat costumes on the subway I'm sure I could handle Merle's bigoted bull shit. Granted it's difficult without my iPod or a book to distract me but I've gotten better at it.

Luckily for me, today Daryl and I were out hunting so I didn't have to deal with Merle or Shane. Turns out Shane is okay with me being only 19 and kept on hitting on me. He would sit awfully close at dinner, ask me to patrol with him, and even asked me intimate questions like the lecher he was. Clearly one woman wasn't enough for him. Lori's giving it up to him whenever he wants yet he's looking for another fuck buddy. He was just as bad as Merle who, for a racist, made a lot of sexual remarks to me. He invited me to his tent on a weekly basis to play 'hide the pickle'. Pushing those perverts out of my mind I focused on tracking with Daryl. My skills weren't as good as his but I could do a decent job.

"Been meaning ta ask ya, where'd ya learn this stuff? Cuz I know they don't teach this in math class."

"Learned it for fun." I told him, "Read a bunch of books on people trying to survive the apocalypse and thought that stuff sounded cool. My parents humored me and took my to self defense lessons, shooting lesson, and bought me books on plant life. That stuff came in handy when I needed to defend myself or get some food. How about you? Who taught you all this stuff because you seem to be quite the survivalist?"

Daryl's shoulders got stiff as if I asked him something taboo. Maybe he was just nervous. Nobody at came, with the exception of Merle and I, seemed to talk to him and when they did it must have felt foreign to him. Probably still couldn't believe that I spoke to him.

"My old man taught me ta track when I was a kid. Merle helped me with the shootin. Pop didn't make much so we got our food huntin." Daryl explained

"Lucky you." I joked, "Here I was wasting cash when I coulda been poaching. You southerners got it made." I saw Dayls lips twitch into a smirk. It was nice to know he was loosening up around me. Two weeks ago he would have snapped at me for joking about stuff like this now he just appreciated my efforts at making him laugh. "One of these days, I'm gonna have you in stitches Dixon. Not just smirking trying to play Mr. Cool."

Once again he smirked at me. "Nice ta know I'm cool now." With a quiet chuckle I held my finger to my lip. "Hush no cool guy. Foods coming." I whispered pointing to a deer that stood a great distance from us in a clearing. Creeping into the bushes I lied on my stomach with my rifle in place. Daryl usually let me shoot the big game, it was easier than taking a bullet out of a small animal. You loose almost half the meat. Walking to the now dead deer Daryl and I bonded its hooves together and put a long stick between both it's front and hind legs to support it as we carried it back to camp. Once we reached camp we skinned it and prepared it for the women once we were done I collected the skins. Since I didn't want to waste any part of my catch I decided to tan their hides and make clothes.

The others allowed me to use one of the picnic tables to stretch out the pelt so I could remove any excess flesh or fat once it dried. Luckily for me Daryl was so good at this that there was really nothing much to scrape off. 'Kudos to you Double D'. As I waited I sat one of the tables seats in a comfortable silence. Allas nothing last forever because Shane had to swagger over disturbing my mood. "What ya up to?" he said sitting far too close for comfort.

"Tanning this deer hide." I replied unemotionally. "Was gonna make some pants."

Shane smirked, leering at my exposed legs as he always did when I wore shorts. Scooting closer he said in a husky whisper "Well, quite frankly I like your look. No need ta go changin it now." I just stayed silent. "I see you're gettin awfully friendly with Dixon. I'll warn you now he's not good company to have. Him and his brother. They're not good for ya." Shane warned. Ironic how the person I trust the least is warning me about the person I trust the most.

"With all due respect Mr. Walsh, I think Daryl makes great company out of everyone here." I drawled, "Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go hang with my hunting partner."

Daryl's P.O.V.

Sitting at my section of camp I used my knife to sharpen sticks to make more arrows. Every now and then I would steal glances at Dolores, who was sitting by Shane. I was clear that Shane was trying in vain to pull the moves on Dolores but she wasn't given in. It always amazed him how easily she would shoot him down. Most of the girls at this camp would be tripping over themselves to get with a 'strong man' that would feed their delusion of normality. Dolores on the other hand didn't need that. She was a strong, confident woman who didn't need Shane's 'help'. Although I understood that I couldn't understand why she flocked to me. I had nothing to offer her so why was she hanging around me. As I continued to ponder over this I saw Dolores storm away from Shane and over to me. Quickly averting my eyes from her I looked back to my makeshift arrow and tried to look busy. She sat down on one of the empty lawn chairs near me and crossed her long legs. I must have been staring because she asked me if I was alright. I glanced at her light brown eyes then looked back to my arrow with a nod.

"So," I muttered pointing briefly at the picnic table where Shane sat staring at us, "What ya makin?"

"Oh, just some assless chaps for you cowboy." Dolores said shooting me a goofy smile.

"You're more of a perv than Merle. No one gets a look at these goods for free." I joked. Funny because I never felt this comfortable talking to a woman sober. Hell, she even laughed at that joke.

"Sorry couldn't resist a free show." Dolores's laugh was so light and girly. Ironic because she was the least girly woman I've met by far. Sure some girls in my town could hunt but not like Dolores. In fact I just realized that I was calling Dolores a woman while I called all other girls. In my eyes Dolores was the only woman who I saw as my equal.

"If ya want I could shoot Shane in the ass fer ya." Once again she laughed her girly laugh making smile. "Thanks but I'll pass. But you should try smiling more. You look good." Hearing her compliment me was just odd yet pleasant. I tried to hold her gaze as she smiled at me. It was a surprisingly nice change of pace to have a nice conversation with a woman like this without either of us having a single drink. As nice as it was I had to push those thoughts out of my mind. Dolores was too good of a woman to be with a man like me. I'm not saying she should be with shane either but she just deserved much better.

Please Review! I wanna know how everyone feels about this because I got a good feeling about this chapter.