Hey there ya'll, here's chapter four, where Lizzie and Glenn go into town! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. To the person who asked, no this isn't the trip where they find Rick, don't forget Glenn said he'd been going to town at least a few times before he brought a whole group, this chapter sort of introduces why he's not big on bringing a group of people. I'm glad you guys seem to be liking Lizzie so far, and I hope you like what I do with her now!

Oh, and just a warning, Merle gets a little un-PC in this chapter and has a few rude things to say about Glenn and T-Dog. Even though I don't agree with what he says at all I had to keep him at least a little in character.

Disclaimer: I only own Lizzie Mason.

Glenn was silent as we drove. He had tried to mess around with the radio a bit when we first got into the car, but even that whole "Get to Atlanta" bullshit had been taken off the air. It was dead silence, so he picked up a tape- yes, the kid still had a tape player in his car- and popped it in. I couldn't help but smile at him as he looked over at me. It had been so long since I'd heard music, I didn't even care what it was I was listening to. It didn't hurt that Glenn was apparently a classic rock fan.

"Amy didn't seem too pleased you were coming." He told me and I chuckled lightly.

"She'll be alright." I told him. He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Neither did the Dixons."

"They can take care of themselves."

Glenn was right though; me going to town was not a popular occurrence with almost anyone in camp. When I told Amy she practically started to hyperventilate. Jacqui and Andrea had to calm her down while I explained I knew better than Glenn what kind of stuff to pick up when we went back to Camping World. She finally calmed down a little after that, but hardly left my side the rest of the day. When night fell and I went over to where Daryl and Merle were sitting at their fire and I told them Daryl started to chew on his thumbnail slightly.

"You sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"If I'm stuck here with Lori and Walsh without a break for another day I may actually lose my shit." I told them.

"Hey ya ain't hear me arguin'." Merle said and I nodded to him.

"Thought you said that Chinaman could do it hisself." Daryl muttered later and I looked over at him as I arranged a log on the fire.

"We still on that?" I asked. Merle had "Gone for a leak" about twenty minutes before and hadn't returned.

"Guess so." He said simply.

"Can't be helped." I told him. "You and Merle, you two ain't around all day, ya get to do things that help everyone." I explained.

"Ya help out 'round here more'n' most people."

"Talk ta some people 'round here they won't say the same." I told him. He grew silent for a moment and nodded to the side. I looked over where he was looking and I raised my eyebrows seeing Carol there.

"I uh, heard you were going to town tomorrow."

"Yeah, do you need anything?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No, I was just thinking, before you go, if you got whatever you wanted washed together, I can do it for you." She said to me and I nodded.

"I'll have it ready by morning." I told her and she walked over a little closer.

"You know Glenn can do it himself. Shane seems to think to send any more than one person is dangerous."

"Liz can handle herself." Daryl said quickly. Carol nodded and looked to him almost shyly.

"Do you or your brother need anything washed either?" he looked a little startled at the offer and looked at me almost as if to ask if she was serious. I shrugged and he looked down, and back to the fire.

"Pull some things together." He muttered and she nodded.

"Lizzie," Carol said and I looked back at her as Daryl went back to chewing his thumbnail. "I know you want to feel useful, just be careful tomorrow, okay?" she asked and I nodded.

"Hey Carol?" I asked before I could stop myself. She turned back and I stood up and stepped over to her, crossing my arms as I ran my fingernails over my skin on my opposite arm. "I uh, I didn't mean to scare Sophia earlier." I said softly. "Will you tell 'er that?"

"She wasn't scared of you Lizzie," she said softly. I looked up at her and she reached out to put her hand on my arm. I moved away slightly and she paused before nodding understandingly. She left and I sat down on the branch next to the fire next to Daryl. Daryl didn't say anything, just sat there next to me.

"You an' Merle get to leave camp, you go huntin', you're by yourself, Merle goes out at nights, he's by hisself, I'm stuck with them all day." I nodded to the group. "They ain't all bad, but the ones I got a history with, they ain't likely to forgive and forget anytime soon."

"Ain't like you're tryin' too hard ta forgive an' forget neither." He said and I looked at him. "Ya don't call Walsh by his first name, Grimes ain't exactly goin' through a easy time, what with losin' her husband an' all." He shrugged. "I ain't sayin' she's right actin' like the queen uh the camp."

"She's shacking up with Shane."

"Yer sure?" he asked and I nodded.

"Pretty sure."

"Hell ain't sayin' that's right neither."

"You're sayin' go easy on her?"

"Ain't sayin' that." He said. "She don't need no one else goin' easy on her like everyone else 'round here."

"So what are you saying?" I asked and he sighed.

"Shit, I dunno." He said as he looked over at me.

"You get why I'm going tomorrow though."

"Yeah I get it." He sighed. "Just don't think it's tha smartest thing ta do."

The next morning after I went down to the water and took a camp shower in the freezing water I got dressed and went back to the camp, by that time almost everyone was up. I had tied my hair up into a loose bun and was getting some things out of my tent when Daryl appeared right outside of my tent.

"Thought you'd have gone by now." I told him and he shook his head.

"Figured I'd go after ya'll leave." He answered. I didn't say anything else, just finished strapping my knife to my leg and picked up my rifle. I slung it over my shoulder and stepped out of my tent and zipped it up. Daryl followed close behind as we walked over to where Glenn was standing near his car. He looked at me curiously as Daryl and I walked over and then made himself busy asking Dale something. Daryl didn't say anything to me, just took my gun while I adjusted the seat for myself, let me get into the car and held me back my gun.

"Good luck hunting." I told him and he nodded.

"You too." He said and I smirked lightly. He walked over to Glenn and spoke to him for a moment, Glenn nodded and then Daryl stepped back as Glenn got into the car and started it up. He pulled out of the quarry and onto the first paved road I'd been on in what felt like a month.

"Groceries first or camping world first?" I asked.

"Groceries." He told me. I just nodded and he continued to drive. When we got to the grocery store we pulled up to the front and he looked over at me. "Great parking." He said and I snorted. We got out of the car and I stretched.

"What's on the list?" I asked.

"Just the usual types of things, non perishables, things we can keep for awhile." He told me. I nodded and then looked at the grocery store.

"I don't think guns are a good idea here." I told him and he nodded.

"So, how do you want to do this?"

"We search the store together, if anything comes at us, we kill it." I offered and he nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." he agreed as I drew my knife. We stepped into the grocery store and he picked up a metal rod that had fallen off of something. Before we started to search the store we pushed the sliding doors shut, since the power was off, the doors wouldn't open automatically. We searched the store, evidently there was only a few walkers, but we decided to keep it safe and not go more than an isle away from each other. The entire store smelled horrible, like a mixture of rotting milk, meat and vegetables. It smelled like what imagined a lot of people's houses smelled like after Hurricane Katrina, but on a bigger level. I grabbed some women's things, tampons and pads for the ladies in camp, Glenn grabbed toilet paper and I got some bars of soap, and we both decided to move our way down the store a bit. We got to the canned foods and I noticed there wasn't much pickings there.

"Glenn, see if they have any soy sauce." I told him and he cast me an odd look. "It doesn't perish and it'll make food taste better." I shrugged. "Same goes with salt and sugar, brown sugar if they've got it. Olive oil, things like that."

"We can't just eat that stuff." He pointed out.

"No but at camping world they'll have MRE's, just add water and presto." I shrugged and he grimaced at the thought but nodded and did as I said. I grabbed some cans of the foods that were left, stringed beans, beets, kidney beans, there were a few sacks of white rice, all of it went into the cart. I made my way to the vegetable section and found flies. God there were so many flies and bugs over everything. I gagged slightly and turned a corner, only to find myself face to face with a large, torn up looking walker. I yelped slightly and went to move away as the walker reached out for me, my knife clattered to the ground as I banged into the cart, sending it back and knocking me off my balance. I fell to the ground, pain shooting down my legs as I fumbled for my knife, Glenn came running at the sound of the struggle, I grabbed my knife as the walker threw himself down on me.

"Shit! Lizzie!" he gasped, before hitting the walker over the head. I managed to keep one hand on the walker's throat, the other I used to drive my knife through his forehead, making him go limp on top of me. Glenn helped me pull the walker up and I looked up at him before he offered me his hand. I hesitated for a moment, before taking his hand and letting him pull me up.

"We should get out of here." I said softly and he nodded.

"There's not much left as far as powdered food or cans goes." He told me and I nodded.

"This whole place reeks." I muttered as I got up. Glenn had managed to find both brown and white sugar, salt, soy sauce and some boxes of pre prepared foods like hamburger helper. There were some cans of tuna in the cart as well, but for the most part it looked like people had wiped out the grocery store before we got the chance to get there.

"Where do you think he came from?"

"Probably the back, he's wearing a uniform." I pointed out and he nodded. We both looked at him for a moment before we looked at each other. We brought the cart through the barren isles, I picked up a can opener on the way through, and soon we were at the back door. I pushed it open slowly and looked into the back. Glenn nodded to me, silently asking if I saw anything, I shook my head and we both walked through into the back. "Well would you look at that?" I asked and Glenn scoffed lightly. There were boxes of non perishable foods, all ready by a loading bay.

"He must have been getting things ready, when he was bit." He said and I nodded.

"Matter of fact, this guys knew what to look for." I said as I looked through the boxes. "Black eyed peas, dried kidney beans, jerky, peanut butter, oatmeal, this is a great haul." I grinned and he smiled back. "Oh god," I held up a plastic container and even Glenn had to match my grin.

"Coffee." He sighed with a smile.

"If we're smart, this could last us a couppla weeks." I told him and he nodded.

I noticed one box was full of Ziplock bags, saran wrap and tin foil, god this guy knew how to prepare. Before we left I paused at the place where they kept all of the cigarettes, I grabbed a carton and tucked it under my arm, and grabbed a bottle of Wild Turkey, Glenn cast me a disapproving look but didn't say anything. We were finished up packing the car, and hopped in; this area of town seemed pretty deserted. We got to Camping World, and running on the high of having such a good haul at the grocery store we hopped out of the car and walked to the store, I kept my rife with me, and Glenn showed me how he had gotten in last time. When we got there I looked over the store, it seemed pretty untouched, Glenn asked me what to look for and I described MRE's to him, he found them and started to pile them up near the end of the isle, while I got some fishing supplies, I was in the middle of going through the ammo, when I heard a voice. Not a groan, but a voice. I looked at Glenn and hissed for him to get down. He did as I told and we held our breaths before the front door opened.

"Hey, we know you're in here." A male's voice called into the store. "You get outta here, don't make us come lookin fer you and we'll let yuh live." Glenn looked over at me in a panic as I listened to that. I looked above us at one of the mirrors in the corner showing the unseen parts of the store to the person behind the counter. There was three of them.

"Hey man, don't make us repeat ourselves, you come on out here!" it was the voice of an overzealous young man. I looked at Glenn he was looking at them; I nodded to my gun and then nodded to them. He caught my meaning and held up one finger. Only one of them had a gun. "Don't make me come find you!"

"Try it and see what happens." I stood up and held my rifle out in front of me, keeping them in my sights.

"Hey now girlie, let's not do anythin' stupid." The first man said while the younger one drew his weapon.

"Put your gun down boy, I can see your hands shaking from here." I said as I turned my gun on him.

He looked at the older guy who nodded and lowered the gun. "We're not lookin' for any trouble now," the first guy said to me. "We're just surprised to see someone alive."

"Obviously not that surprised, who'd you think you were talking to, the dead?" I asked as I kept the gun on the two of them. Glenn had stood up and was watching them too. "Ya'll should know by now walkers don't talk."

"Is uh, is it just you two?" he nodded to me and Glenn. "We got us a group if'n' you want some protection."

"We can handle ourselves just fine." I said. "Now look, me'n' him we just want to finish what we're doing and get on our way."

"Well now, by the looks of your car out there, that's an awful lot of supplies, you sure it's just the two of you?"

"I never said it was." I told him.

"No, no you didn't." he shook his head. "How many you all got?"

"Bout thirty or so." I said quickly. "We're just one group, we've got others over the city."

"Mm-hmm." He nodded. "Where you holed up?"

"Ain't none of your business where we hole up."

"Let's try to keep this friendly." He said as he stepped closer to me.

"You take one more step-"

"And what?" he smirked. "You gonna shoot me? In cold blood?"

"Maybe I will and maybe I won't. Maybe I'll just shoot the ceiling, gun shots seem to bring 'em running." I shrugged.

"You wouldn't." the younger one said looking at me in shock.

"No," the older one said with a knowing smirk. "She won't." on those words something impacted with the back of my head, knocking me unconscious.

When I woke up there was something cold dripping on my head. I shot up quickly, and then groaned softly. "Woah, woah." Glenn said softly. "You've been out for awhile."

"What happened?" I asked and looked at him. "Oh fuck Glenn," I reached out and lightly ran my thumb over his swollen left eye.

"I'm okay, I've been using a cold pack on it." He told me. I looked around and realized it was dark. How long had I been out? "A couple hours." He answered my unasked question. "I didn't think I should move you, you know, in case you had a head injury or anything."

"How much did they take?" I asked as I took the wet rag from him and held it to the back of my head.

"Half of the supplies from the store." He answered hesitantly. "And they did a number on the supplies here."

"It's dark." I said and he nodded. "The others are going to worry."

"Yeah, well, it's you I was worried about, they hit you hard."

"Guess next time we'll have to be more aware of the third guy." I muttered, and moved slightly, my muscles straining in protest.

"They took your ammo. Not the gun, they said they didn't want you coming looking for them." He explained.

"Fuckers." I spat and he nodded.

"Where are you going?" he asked as I stood up and cracked my neck.

"Over to the sleeping bags." I nodded to them. "We should hole up here for the night. Ain't safe moving at night." Glenn nodded. "They get all the MREs?" I asked and he smiled lightly.

"Just the ones off the shelves, they didn't get any of the ones I piled up." He said and I smiled.

"Good." I said. "Break two of 'em out." He nodded and opened one of the boxes while I got two of the sleeping bags that were hung up for display down. As I did I happened to look over at the wall where the white board was. "Glenn." I said and he looked over.

"Lizzie, Takin' care of business, fishing sounds nice see you soon.

Free Masons"

"He's alive." He said and I nodded as I looked back at him with a smile.

"I knew it." I grinned.

After we had eaten I told Glenn I'd take first shift and I'd wake him up, he went to sleep and I sat there all night, thinking about what I'd do to those fuckers if I was given the chance. When the sun came up I was filling up cloth bags full of supplies we could use, clothes, supplies, I found bolts that seemed like the right size for Daryl's crossbow, I even found a wash board which made me chuckle, but I tossed it in a bag. When Glenn woke up after he gave me some long lecture about letting him sleep for too long he helped me load the supplies into the car, which I noticed was a lot less full then it was before.

There weren't many walkers hanging around, so I guess the guys decided not to damn us like I had threatened, though we did have to take care of one, Glenn was changing the white board when it wandered into the store. I was behind the counter, and I noticed a crowbar which I grabbed and moved around the counter before bashing it's head in. Glenn turned around quickly in surprise as I swung the crowbar down a second time and then a third. By the fifth time he had moved behind me and touched my arm.

"Lizzie," he said softly and I looked at him. "He's dead. Let's go." I looked from him to the walker and then nodded as he led me out of the store, pausing only to look at the board.

" All work and no play makes Cal a dull boy. Watch out for the others.

Free Masons"

I looked at Glenn and smiled lightly before we got into the car. He started it up and we started to drive out of the city. "I betcha Amy's losin' her shit by now." I said and he laughed lightly.

"No doubt." He said. "Daryl's gonna kill me." He muttered softly and I looked at him curiously.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." He shook his head.

"No, seriously, why would Daryl kill you?" I asked.

"Well, because he told me to keep an eye on you." He shrugged.

"Daryl?" I asked. "Daryl Dixon?"

"Yes."

"Are we talkin' 'bout the same Daryl Dixon?"

"Do you know any others?" he asked.

"No, I just don't know why in the hell Daryl Dixon would ask you to keep an eye on me."

"He didn't ask, he told me to keep an eye on you." He said and I nodded.

"He probably just feels responsible for me. I think him'n' Merle knew my brother or somethin'." I shrugged.

"Probably." He said softly. We talked as we drove back to camp, mostly about Glenn's family and his past, it wasn't until we were halfway through the hill that the car suddenly came to a shuttering stop.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Well, remember when I said they took half our supplies?" he asked and I nodded, before I groaned.

"The gas Glenn, you let them take half the gas?"

"I didn't let them! He had a gun on me." He said and I sighed deeply before I nodded and then got out of the car.

"Come on." I sighed. "Ain't gettin' any closer just sittin' here." He nodded and got out of the car, I grabbed my gun and one of the cloth bags I had filled up, as well as two bottles of water. Glenn did the same thing and we started to walk the road back to camp.

"How's your head feeling?" he asked.

"Don't ask." I muttered. We were close to camp when a car came rumbling down the road and pulled up to us. Walsh and Jim hopped out of the car and looked us over.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Walsh asked.

"Don't fuckin' ask." I said as I got into the jeep. Glenn followed, recanting the story of the previous day to the two as we drove to the car. We piled the supplies into the jeep and then drove back to camp, Walsh said he'd take Glenn back for the car later. When we got back I hopped out of the jeep only to almost get knocked over by Amy who came out of nowhere.

"I was so scared something happened to you!" she said as she hugged me tightly. "Oh my god, your hair, what happened?" I touched the back of my head and groaned softly. Blood was matted in my hair, creating a sticky knot on the back of my head, and my clothes were covered in dirt and walker blood. I probably looked almost like a walker.

"Got hit." I muttered. "We were attacked."

"Oh my god." She took a step back and I shook my head.

"Not like that," I told her. "We were attacked by the living."

"What happened?" Andrea asked as she and Dale walked over. I told the two of them the short version of the story before going to where they were unloading the supplies.

"Lizzie," Glenn said and I looked at him. He held out a bag and I moved over to look inside of it. It was a few things I had picked out for myself, a box of ammo, and the bolts, the Wild Turkey and the carton of smokes.

"Lizzie, all of the supplies are going to the RV, we're gonna distribute them fairly."

"Bullets, alcohol and cigarettes." I said simply and he stared at me for a minute, before nodding.

I went to my tent and put the bag down before grabbing some clothes and a towel. I took them and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and my lighter before I walked out of the tent. As I walked through the camp, I walked to where the supplies were.

"Glenn," he looked at me. "The biodegradable shampoo?" he handed it to me and I nodded to him. "Goin' for a shower." He nodded and went back to sorting things while I walked down the hill to the water. No one was down there so I stripped off my clothes and stepped under the hose, I wet my hair a little bit and hissed in discomfort at the water hitting the cut in my head. I lathered up my hair and washed out the blood, before washing off, I looked as best as I could at the scrapes on the backs of my legs, and tried as best as I could to clean them, they were stinging a little, which probably wasn't the best of signs. After my shower I dried off and got changed, when I pulled on my underwear I looked behind myself at my butt, it was bruised from falling back on it after being pretty much tackled by the walker. I pulled on my pants and new socks and slipped a tee shirt over my head before I touched the back of my head again. I could feel fresh blood starting to trickle down the back of my neck so I put the towel to the back of my head and walked back up the hill. When I got there I went to my tent and started to dig around for the first aid kit.

"Hey." I turned around and looked at Daryl who was standing in the doorway to my tent.

"Hey." I said to him.

"Heard you were back." He said and I nodded, before he spotted the blood on the towel.

"Ya hurt?" he asked and I sighed.

"It's nothin'." I muttered and he stepped into the tent without asking permission. I didn't really care; he took the first aid kit and then gestured for me to follow him. I followed him out to the large branch around the Dixon's fire and he sat down on it. I sat down next to him.

"Turn so yer back is facin' me." He ordered and I did as I was told. He parted my hair slightly and I could feel him run his thumb over the cut. "What happened?"

"Me'n' Glenn were cornered." I muttered softly.

"D'you kill 'em?" he asked.

"Not by walkers." I sighed and he paused at what he was doing. "Three guys, and only one of 'em had a gun- I'm so-" I groaned slightly and kicked a rock.

"Quit yer squirmin'." He said as he put his hands on my shoulders, trying to get me to sit still. "Makin' it impossible for me ta work. One'a' them get the jump on ya?"

"Yeah." I muttered. "Knocked me out, kicked the shit outta Glenn and took half our supplies. Including half the gas from Glenn's car." I told him with a groan. "Fuck."

"What're you so upset about?" he asked. "They got the jump on ya."

"That's easy for you to say." I told him. "They took the bullets from my gun." I looked back at him and he nodded.

"Made ya feel useless."

"How could I not notice the third guy?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Look forward." He told me and I did, I felt him press something to my head and I hissed in discomfort as it started to sting. "Quit squirmin'." He ordered and I sat still.

"Ya ain't useless." He said and I scoffed slightly. "Ya ain't. Ya kept the china man alive didn't ya?" he asked and I smiled lightly.

"We kept each other alive." I told him. "I watched out for him, and he made sure the fuckers didn't kill me when they knocked me out."

"Lucky I weren't there." He muttered. "Woulda shot them no questions asked."

"Before or after they knocked me out?" I asked jokingly.

"Minute they looked at'cha." He said and I looked at my knees, glad he was behind me so he couldn't see how my face flushed lightly, I hadn't expected that answer. Or any answer. "Finished." He said and I touched the back of my head. He had put some sort of cream, probably Neosporin on the cut. "Weren't much I coulda done, 'part from wrappin a gauze 'round your head. Figured you wouldn't like that much." He shrugged as I looked back at him.

"No, I guess not." I said and he started to get up. "Hey Daryl," he paused and I held up my pack. "Smoke?" I asked and he looked at it for a moment before looking at me. I nodded and pressed the pack into his hand. "I figured you'd run out. I've got more." I shrugged and he nodded before he unwrapped the pack, and packed it a few times against the heel of his hand. He plucked one out and walked over to his tent as I went to put my first aid kit back. While I was in the tent I flopped onto my bed and after a moment I found it impossible to keep my eyes open.

When I woke up it was to Merle shaking my tent and telling me to get up and get some food. I crawled out of the tent rubbing my eyes and sighed seeing it was dark again. It looked like the women had gotten a little carried away with our canned goods, I frowned lightly and looked at all of the food they had prepared. "This is supposed to last awhile." I said as I sat down at the Dixon's fire.

"Think any uh them care?" Merle asked. "After this run, they'll be sendin' you out more."

"And come back feeling like this every time? I don't think so." I said jokingly as Daryl handed me a plate. "Thanks." I smiled at him and he gave me a small nod before sitting down next to me.

"How're ya feelin there Sugar Tits? Scrape yer knee?"

"Fuck off Merle, I took my eyes off of him for two seconds." I said with a mouthful of food. He frowned and looked at Daryl making me frown and look at Daryl who simply shrugged.

"Fuck're you talkin' about Lizzie?"

"No one told you? Me'n' Glenn got cornered at Camping World. By people." I told him and he stared at me. "One of them cold cocked me in the back of the head, knocked me out, that's why we didn't come back until today, I was out cold."

"Where the fuck was the Chinaman when this happened?"

"He got roughed up too." I said. "He made sure they didn't take all our supplies."

"All?" he asked. "How much they get?"

"Half." I admitted.

"So that's all that happened?" he asked and I shrugged.

"That, and I was tackled by a walker." I told them and Daryl almost choaked.

"What?" he asked.

"In the grocery store, one of them came out from the back, and nearly took me out, I didn't get cut or nothin', d'you think I'd come back if I had?" I asked.

"Where the fuck was Glenn when that happened?" Daryl asked.

"Around the opposite corner, it was fine, I handled it." I told them.

"Ya'ain't goin' fer supplies again." Merle told me and I scoffed.

"What are you my mother?" I asked.

"If'n' it means you ain't goin' fer supplies again, not with the Chinaman, then fuckin' A I'm yer mother." Merle snapped as someone walked over. "He can bring T-Dog, they're good at lootin'."

"Merle, you've gotta stop sayin' shit like that." I said with a small scoff making him scoff at me and then look at whoever was walking over.

"What d'you want?" he snapped at Carol who looked a little flustered.

"I just wanted to speak to Lizzie for a minute." She said and I nodded as I stood up.

"What's up Carol?" I asked as I walked over to her.

"Glenn told us what happened in the stores, both times," she said and I sighed. "I just wanted to say how glad I am that you're okay." She told me and I looked to the side slightly.

"If they hadn't got the jump on me- We had a lot more'n' this." I nodded to the food and she nodded.

"I know, but this is more than anyone expected." She said with a small smile. "I'm just happy you're alright." She said again and I shrugged a little less awkwardly before she patted my arm slightly with the same smile and then walked away.

"What'd she want?" Merle asked when I sat back down next to Daryl.

"Wanted me ta know she's glad I weren't kilt." I told him with a mouthful of rice and beans.

"Shoulda seen tha way blondie was pacin' over there." Merle nodded to Amy who smiled at me when I looked over. "Looked like her'n' Darylina over here were havin' a race to see who could keep it up longer." I looked at Daryl who had tensed up and was concentrating on his food.

"What about you Merle?" I asked as I looked away from Daryl.

"Nah. I knew ya could take care of yerself." He shrugged. "Yer a Mason." He winked and I rolled my eyes with a small smile.

"Hey there Lizzie," Walsh walked over to the Dixon's fire, Merle had "Gone for a leak", and Daryl was poking at the fire with a stick.

"What's up Walsh?" I asked and he looked over at Daryl who was still poking the fire, but now watching the conversation between us.

"I just wanted to congradulate you on the run. You brought some good stuff back."

"Glad to hear it." I said.

"I also wanted to ask you about the other survivors," he said and I looked back up at him slowly. "Did they seem like they were doin' okay?"

"They were doin' fine." I told him.

"How do you mean, Glenn said there was only three of them."

"Cocky." I said with a nod. "They knew what they were doin', won't say the same 'bout what they were lookin' for, but they knew to hit up a campin' store. They said they were in a group. Asked if we needed protection." I explained. "They were doin' just fine on their own, and we didn't need that."

"Well how do you know how many they were?" he asked and I looked at him with a small frown.

"They weren't gonna just come back here and live quietly." I told him. "They weren't no use ta us."

"How do you know? Maybe one of them was a doctor or something, what if they needed help?"

"Everyone needs help. We can't help everyone." I said as I stood up. "And besides, these guys, they're more like Ed than anyone else in this camp. Ed or Merle, if'n' Merle took ta knockin me out cold anytime I said somethin' he didn't like."

"How do you know he wouldn't already?" he asked and Daryl jumped up. I caught his arm and he shot me a look.

"I trust Merle." I said as I looked at Walsh. "It's more then I can say for some of the people here." I looked him over.

"He's not always as tame as he is around you." He said and I looked him over.

"Guess we're two peas in a pod by your standards." I said and he sighed.

"Look, I didn't want to start a fight." He said. "You think they were dangerous?"

"I've got a knot on the back of my head that leads me to believe they were." I nodded.

"Then… I trust your judgment." He said, making me and Daryl look at each other briefly. I looked back at Walsh for a moment before I nodded.

"Thanks." I said slowly and he nodded.

"Oh, and uh, Lizzie," he said as he turned around, then paused and looked at me as if it were an afterthought. "I'm glad you're okay." I nodded slowly and he turned back around and walked back to the main fire.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked Daryl who shrugged.

Okay, I hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter, I guess Shane's starting to realize Lizzie's contribution to the camp and realizing that they've really been pushing her. I hope you enjoyed her and Daryl getting a little closer, and I'm aware they're going really slowly, but in all fairness, I think this is good progress for Daryl. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, and please don't forget to review!