"If I ever find that yer here to hurt mah crew, I'll kill ya,"


Chapter 4: Safety

After two days of bed rest, Hershel let Kei try and move around a bit. She limped out of the house with her bow and arrows at hand, taking in the scent of morning air. She let out a sigh through her nose, rubbing her arms and neck in satisfaction. It had been a long time since she had a real bed to sleep in. It was nice, she could definitely get used to it.

She limped her way off the porch and stood at the bottom of the steps, looking out towards the camp where Rick's group was. She could hear voices raising, and saw Shane's arms flailing around over by Carol's Cherokee. He was arguing with someone again, and chances were it was Rick.

"We can't let her stay here," Shane commanded.

"And why not," Rick asked, clearly tired of this conversation.

"She stole our shit when we first met her, man," Shane answered, "She didn't ask or—or even attempt to plead her case for some food. She just went up and stole. Then she sicks those mutts after us on the highway, and you practically welcome them in and let them sleep next to your own son."

"They aren't dangerous!" Rick objected.

"Will you listen to yourself?" Shane yelled, "Wolves, hunters, killers, aren't dangerous. Dammit Rick what world you livin' in right now, is it nice?! Care if we join in too?!"

"Shane!" Lori protested loudly, "Her pets aren't as bad as they seem, I admit they're a little intimidating, but they helped Hershel with the horses and they love Carl—"

"Oh so they chase horses around and make yer son happy for a lil bit," He snapped back, "Well shit, why not just make those three the leaders then?!"

Lori jerked her head back a little in surprise. She watched as the man ran a hand across his shaved head anxiously.

"Safety," He continued, "That's all we need."

"And that's what we have," Rick noted urgently, "And we could have even more if we include her and the wolves into our group."

"Nah," Shane spoke lowly, "Nah we'll be dead. You don't even know how good she is. You saw her run around Rick, that's all any of us have seen."

"She shot that deer square in the neck," Daryl mentioned plainly while inspecting one of his bolts, "Gotta be a decent shot with a bow to hit the jugular from a distance."

Shane let out a hearty scoff and shook his head at him.

"Luck, man. She just another ass to cover."

Kei flinched a little and watched as Shane bickered on about her "questionable" skills. Rick continued to talk in her defense, bringing up points about her having to be good in order for her to survive this long on her own. Shane continued to shake his head and say that she was just going to get them killed, or herself killed, and that she wasn't good enough.

The girl shook her head with an agitated sigh and held out her bow. She prepared an arrow and drew it back, pointing it around to look for a small yet easy target.

Well, easy for her, anyway.

Glenn had left an apple on the hood of Carol's Cherokee. Behind that (only a couple feet away) was a tree. Perfect.

She drew back her arrow further and let go, watching it zip forward and pierce the apple's side. The arrow carried it across the hood and hit the tree within seconds. Rick and Shane instantly stopped bickering. Glenn and Daryl's heads perked up, and Carol's hand was to her chest in shock. They all looked at the apple pinned to the tree, and then turned to look in Kei's direction. She merely looked to Shane and leaned forward, taking a small bow before turning around.

Everyone just stood there and watched as she limped back inside the house. Rick had his eyebrows raised in surprise before looking to Shane in amusement. The man just shook his head immediately, turning around to limp away towards the camp fire. Daryl stepped up to the tree and pulled out the arrow, staring at the apple closely. He smirked, turning around to show Kei's good work to Rick.

"Seems like she can hold her own to me,"

Noon time rolled around. Rick and a few others went out to the highway to look for the missing girl again. This time Ren went along as well. Rick figured they could get a lot farther with Daryl's tracking and a wolf's sense of smell and hearing. Kei stayed behind and watched from the roof of the RV as Carl and Ame played fetch.

"I for one don't think you're a threat," Dale mentioned suddenly, "Some of the others have their doubts, but I can see it. You're a good person, just trying to get by like the rest of us."

She smiled lightly and took a small sip of water, watching as Carl tossed a stick towards the field. Ame darted off after it as quick as lightning.

"What is your name, anyway?" She heard the old man ask, "I figure it's a lot better than 'stranger'."

"Kei," She peeped, watching as Carl threw a ball and Ame rushed to go fetch it.

"K…" Dale chuckled lightly, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Kei," She repeated slightly louder.

"Kei," He repeated, earning a nod from the girl, "A nice name."

She smiled lightly and returned to looking out at the fields. She sighed at the sight. It had been a while since she'd been somewhere so open with such a big sky.

"Do you have family out here, Kei?" She heard him ask suddenly, "Do you have family anywhere?"

She shook her head no.

"I'm sorry to hear that," He replied honestly, "Andrea lost family too recently. We all have."

She looked up to him, her eyes big and curious, as if asking him the same question. He caught on and looked out towards the fields.

"I had a wife," He mentioned with a sigh, "As fate would have it, she didn't live to see the world end. She left early, lost the battle to cancer. Well, I wouldn't say lost. She put up a damn good fight, but it was her time, and she accepted that."

Kei's dark eyes traveled to the floor for a moment.

"I couldn't at the time," He sighed, "It took a while, but I finally did. I had to after all, so much was going on."

Dale felt a hand gently place itself on his knee cap in comfort. He looked down at Kei and smiled. She smiled back, the both of them turning back to watch the fields roll with the clouds in the wind.

Ren darted around the trees and made her way over to the creek. She leapt down and landed in the creek bed, her nose sniffing against the rocks and dirt. Daryl leapt down as well, observing the ground closely before looking ahead down the creek.

"This mutt ain't half bad," He spoke with a smirk, "Got some prints here."

"Are they Sophia's?" Andrea asked, leaping down and landing next to the hunter. Daryl looked down at the dirt closely, squinting a little at the faded shoe print in the mud between two rocks.

"Small enough," He mentioned. Rick and Shane leapt down as well, watching as the Red Wolf weaved around the creek and continued to sniff.

"Why on earth would she be down here?" Andrea asked, looking around curiously.

"Most recognizable landmark in the woods, why not?" Shane asked back.

Ren perked up suddenly and turned to look down the creek. She let out a huff before letting out a sharp growl and darting up ahead. Daryl Rick quickly rushed after her, Andrea and Shane following suit. They ran several feet down before pausing suddenly. Only a few feet ahead was a walker, and Ren growled at it viciously. The rotted corpse turned and looked at the group with its milky white eyes. The walker was a woman, with thin and dirty clumps of hair on its skull and one arm missing. Daryl held up his crossbow and started to get closer. Ren rushed up ahead and darted over to the Walker's side, growling viciously and baring her teeth. The Walker turned its head with a loud crack and started stumbling its way to the ball of fur and meat. Its task was quickly cut short by an arrow coming on fast and piercing it right in the skull. The body flung to the side and landed with a thud. Ren immediately wagged her tail in satisfaction and ran up to Rick's side. He let out a "good girl" in gratitude and looked to Daryl. The man nodded and kept his eyes glued to the dirt floor, moving onward and following the light trail of tracks.

"Well, she's certainly…different," T-Dog mentioned, watching Kei from the RV as she limped over to the field, "A bit intimidatin' with that whole Last Samurai thing she got goin' on..."

"Yeah well she's in a lot of pain," Dale justified, "She's been through a lot. We all have."

The old man watched the girl in the field as she carefully sat herself down in the grass. She gently rubbed her bandaged leg and stared out at the scenery for a moment, seeming to get lost in her thoughts. She sat out there for a while, just looking out at the forest, occasionally ripping up small chunks of long grass and dirt on either side of her. She didn't say a word, she didn't express any sort of emotion-she just sat there, looking at the edge of the empty forest.

Dale and T-Dog watched as she stood back up and started to limp her way back to camp. Carl and Ame came darting out from his tent, the young boy laughing and yelling for Ame to catch up. The two of them ran towards the girl and stopped in front of her, excitement practically radiating from their bodies. Carl spoke frantically to her about something that the two men on the RV couldn't hear. The girl just smiled and nodded her head, continuing on towards the camp.

Once the three made it back, Rick and the rest of the search team had come back as well. The police sheriff nodded to Kei and smiled as Carl and Ame ran up to him. Both of them seemed equally excited, Carl hugging his dad tightly and Ame darting circles around them. Kei smiled at the scene before walking onward, only to be stopped by someone saying, "Hey, Mutey!" behind her. She stopped and turned. Daryl stalked up to her, their significant difference in height revealing itself. Kei looked up at him expectantly, watching as his stormy eyes roamed over her.

"Yer mutt did good today," He admitted lowly, "But I still don't trust ya."

Kei chewed on the inside of her lip a little. She could tell where this was going.

"Now you listen to me good," he said, his voice dark, "I don't care if you stay here or not, but you understand one thing."

He leaned forward, and Kei found herself stepping back.

"If I ever find that yer here to hurt mah crew, I'll kill ya," He muttered, "I don't need you here tryin'a fuck up things. These guys've been through 'nough…"

She furrowed at him. A compliment and a threat? She hadn't had that in awhile. She nodded lightly and let out a loud and short whistle. Ren and Ame sprung over to her side happily, wagging their tails as they followed her back over to the camp fire.

Carol handed the girl a plate of eggs with a couple peach slices. The girl looked at her closely. It looked like her mind was away from the world. Her eyes were glassy and pink. She had been crying. The woman quickly turned away and went on to serve lunch to Daryl and the others, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Rick went on to announce their plan to search for Sophia in a couple hours. Kei nibbled on a piece of peach slice quietly as her name was mentioned, but her assignment was to stay behind and try to rest a bit.

"Hershel doesn't want you to put too much stress on your leg right now," He informed, "After a couple more days, you should be fit to go to the highway with Dale and the others.

The young girl nodded, her eyes glancing over at Carol as she took a seat next to Dale. The thin woman looked up from her plate and gave the girl a weak smile, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Kei watched her from time to time with great curiosity. When the thin woman with short hair thought nobody was looking, she would put a hand to her mouth and quietly cry for a minute or so. After wiping her eyes and collecting herself, she'd go back to whatever chore she was doing and that would be it. Kei couldn't imagine what she was going through, to lose her little girl like that, not knowing if she was even alive. Kei felt like she was lucky to never have had to experience that.

Still, her experience was bad, but she could understand Carol's pain. Losing a loved one was never easy. From what Lori had told her during laundry, she had no husband, and now no daughter.

"Although, he was just awful," She mentioned as they scrubbed the clothes in the creek, "He'd hit her, sometimes openly right in front of us. We'd always try to stop it but…"

She fell silent and shook her head. Kei wrung the sopping wet t-shirt in her hands.

"God knows what he did to her before any of this started," She went on, "And I can only fathom about poor Sophia. After Ed got attacked by that herd in camp, I could see it on Carol's face, that small sense of freedom. She still mourned during the burial of course, but we all could see it. It was on our faces too. One less asshole to deal with in the world."

Kei dipped the shirt in water before wringing it out again. She thought about her own experiences with her old boyfriend. He was a hot head at times, and occasionally would break something after a heated argument about things that now seem so petty. He had never physically hit her before. He never had the chance. Her friends Sen, Alex, and Daisuke came in like knights in shining armor and made it clear that they wouldn't let him hurt her, ever. It was after that they broke up, and the last time she saw him was only a week before all hell broke loose.

It was only for a second, but she was walking down the street when she saw him coming from the opposite direction. He had a new girl latched to his arm: a fairly tall brunette with highlights in her hair. He had made eye contact with her for only a second before breaking away, the both of them denying each other's existence. Now that the world had ended however, she wondered if he was still even alive, and if he was acknowledging her existence now.

"Kei,"

She blinked. Rick's big blue eyes were staring right at her big dark browns. He was kneeling in front of her, staring at her curiously with one knee in the dirt.

"Y'alright?" He asked, "You zoned out there for a minute."

She nodded quickly, wiping her forehead before looking back down at her plate. She wasn't used to someone being this close to her, let alone a man.

The corner of Rick's mouth twitched upwards before he got up and patted her shoulder.

"You'll get your shot to help out," He mentioned in comfort, "Right now I need you to stay put, alright? Help Lori and Maggie with whatever they need."

The dark haired girl nodded her head, stuffing her mouth with only a single scoop of eggs before setting the plate down. She looked down and watched as Ren and Ame hurriedly fed on the rest. As the two wolves munched and licked away at the plate, she couldn't help but feel like a pair of eyes were on her. She turned and looked to the right, noticing Daryl openly staring at her and what she just did. He wasn't shy about it either. He didn't look away or even pretend he was looking at something else. He just eyed her for a good second before looking back down at his own meal, completely missing the girl making a confused frown at him.