Hidden in the forest above, Daryl and Nola watched the arrival of the new guests. It was too dark to see much. There was an RV plus 5 more vehicles. The people looked harmless enough – mostly families with children.

"They don't look like much," Daryl said. "We'll go see what they're about in the morning – they ain't gonna find us up here tonight."

Daryl and Nola stood in silence for a few minutes. "Why don't you head on back, get some sleep. I'll stay here 'n keep watch," Daryl said as he settled himself against a tree.

Nola's eyes were drooping – and she didn't seen the need to watch their new neighbours closely anyways.

"You sure?" Nola said, hoping she sounded convincingly sympathetic.

"Yeah – Merle's gonna be snoring the whole night anyhow. Might as well stay here."

Nola retreated to her tent. Indeed she could hear Merle snoring, but she was so tired that she soon fell asleep.

It was dawn. Daryl was resting his head against the tree, his eyes shut. Hearing footsteps approaching from behind his eyes snapped open and his hand moved for the hunting knife on his belt.

"Boo," Merle said flatly. "No need to get your panties in a knot, little brother. Now what's going on down there?" Merle said with curiosity, eyeing their new neighbours' camp.

"Duh know – they pulled in last night. Just a bunch of a families," Daryl said nodding toward the camp.

Merle rubbed his chin slowly, "Well now, I think they owe us something for setting up on our land."

"The Hell you talkin' about Merle? Ain't nobody owes us shit," Daryl grimaced. His brother's penchant for chaos was getting tiresome.

"Well now hold on baby brother, don't sell yourself short. If we don't take from these fine people, someone else just gonna do it sooner or later. This way we're doing them a favour. We'll cozy up to them, then rob 'em blind. We won't take everything, and this way they'll learn to watch out for people like us," Merle chortled.

Daryl didn't respond – there was no point in arguing with Merle.

A wicked smile crossed Merle's face, "So, yer princess give it up yet?"

"Shut up, Merle," Daryl said through gritted teeth.

"She's usin' you boy! She's usin' us," Merle spat. "She ain't no good to us – 'specially if she ain't puttin' out."

Daryl scowled in the direction of Nola's tent. Merle has a point, Daryl thought to himself, Nola didn't even want to leave the highway with him and Merle. Now she's stuck with here – stuck with me. She's better off with those new people down there.

"Fine – we'll leave her with these new people," Daryl shrugged in defeat.

Merle nodded in approval as he started down toward the new arrivals.

Daryl clenched his fists and watched Merle leave. Finally, after several minutes of debate he followed his brother down to the new camp.

He found Merle talking to a tall man with dark hair. The way held himself made Daryl think he was a cop. Daryl didn't like him already.

" . . . sounds like a good idea to me, and I'd be pleased to lend y'all a hand!" Merle said, flashing what he thought was a winning smile. The man he was talking to looked uneasy – but he also didn't look like he had much of a choice. Looking around the camp Daryl saw an old guy in a bucket hat, some women and children, and a couple of people who looked like they'd never slept a night outdoors.

The man Merle was talking to thrust his hand forward toward Daryl. "Name's Shane – I take it you're Daryl?"

Daryl jerked his head in acknowledgement.

"Your brother just agreed to join our go-to-town group – said y'all might be interested in joining our camp?" Shane inquired.

Merle nudged Daryl, "Yeah Daryl – why don't you come along with me to see what's happening in the city?"

Daryl knew that Merle was planning on looting – and who knows what else.

"I'm gonna stay back here. Should be some deer up in these hills," Daryl said out the side of his mouth, hoping Merle wouldn't oblige him to come along.

Merle jovially clapped Daryl on the back, "So we'll bring back the 'taters and my baby brother's gonna bring home the bacon!"

Daryl left Merle with the new group and headed back up to their camp. The new group seemed nice enough, but he was better on his own. Daryl ducked into his tent to get his crossbow. When he re-emerged he saw Nola, standing in front of her tent dressed in cut off shorts and a white t-shirt. Daryl could see the outline of her black bra through the shirt. Slightly embarrassed he turned his gaze toward the ground.

"What's going on?" Nola asked.

"Merle's going into Atlanta with some of the group down there. I'm going huntin'," Daryl stated, fidgeting with his bow. "Why don't you go on down and meet them?" Daryl suggested, still avoiding eye contact with Nola.

"I don't know them," Nola said, biting her lip with worry. Nola was not keen on meeting strangers. "I was thinking I could come with you? I've never been hunting before."

"Well I ain't gonna be your babysitter," sighed Daryl. He waved Nola toward her tent, "Why don't you go on and change your shirt – that white's gonna scare the deer."

"Oh, yeah," Nola said, feeling dumb.

Soon they were walking through the woods. Daryl had made it apparent he wasn't interested in talking. Periodically Daryl would kneel, examine the ground, and then continue on. He seemed to be following trails and cues Nola couldn't see.

Suddenly, Daryl held up his hand and came to a dead stop. Nola couldn't see or hear anything, until Daryl pointed to a shadowy figure in the distance.

"It's one of those dead things," Daryl whispered nodding toward it.

Nola shuddered. Daryl moved to walk in the opposite direction. "Wait – we can't just leave it like that!" Nola whispered urgently.

"Why not? S'far away enough from our camp – ain't gonna find its way to us," Daryl said defensively.

"Please? I just know that I'd want someone to put me down if I ever . . ." Nola trailed off.

"Fine," Daryl grunted. He cocked his bow and slid in a bolt as he strode forward. The creature raised its head as it saw us approach and let out a low, gasping growl. Without breaking pace, Daryl leveled his bow and shot a bolt between its eyes. The creature crumpled to the ground. Daryl absent mindedly braced the creature's head with his foot and removed his bow, pausing to wipe the bolt on the forest floor.

"Thank you," Nola said quietly.

After several hours, they came to a river. It was hot and sweat was pouring off of them. Daryl sat and kicked off his boots. Rolling up his pants he dunked his feet in the water.

Nola was relieved. She was exhausted. She pulled off her own shoes and noticed blood on the toes and heels of her socks. How am I going to hike all the way back? It must be nearly dark. Nola felt her stomach twist painfully – then she remembered they hadn't eaten since last night.

She felt Daryl nudge her with a bottle, "C'mon – drink up," he ordered.

After rummaging in his sack Daryl produced a tin of beans and some jerky. He cracked open the tin using his hunting knife and handed it to Nola with some of the jerky.

"You ain't lookin' good," Daryl said, a touch of concern in his normally gruff voice.

"Thanks," Nola said sarcastically.

Daryl felt stupid. Well looks like I ain't getting better at talking to women.

"I'm gonna go take a piss," he said flatly.

Nola was too occupied with the can of beans to really hear him.

Yer just a dumbass redneck that she ain't gonna pay any attention to once she meets that cop Shane, Daryl thought to himself. He zipped his pants up and leaned against the tree he'd just pissed on. "She ain't never gonna be interested," he muttered aloud to himself.

Then he heard a scream. It only took him a few moments to get back to where Nola was, but one of the dead things was on top of her. Nola was kicking it away desperately with her feet as it reached for her. In a single move Daryl grabbed his hunting knife from the rock he'd laid it on and plunged the blade into the top of the creature's skull. The dead body went limp in his hands and he threw it roughly to ground. The thing had been a woman of slight built – smaller than Nola to be sure. Daryl shook his head to think what might have happened had the creature been slightly bigger.

Nola was pale and shaking. She lay on the ground stunned. Daryl knelt.

"You bit?"

Nola shook her head. The dead thing's blood had dripped on to her cheeks and down her neck. Daryl took his handkerchief from his back pocket and started wiping away the thick, dark blood.

"C'mon, sit up, you're fine," Daryl said, nudging her to an upright position.

Nola burst into tears. She felt silly, helpless. This is probably the last thing that Daryl wanted to deal with, she berated herself. Get your shit together.

Daryl started looking over Nola, making sure there weren't any scratches from the dead thing. Other than a few scrapes, she seemed fine – until he saw her feet. They were blistered and bleeding. Daryl shook his head, Why didnt't she say anything? She probably thinks I'm an ass.

Daryl slung his bow and his backpack over his shoulder. He slid one arm underneath her bent knees and one arm behind her back to pick her up.

"You're a lot heavier than you look," Daryl said as he stumbled slightly.

Nola smiled weakly, "Thanks."

Daryl walked a upstream, away from the dead body. After a few minutes, he found what he thought was a good location and went to work building a shelter. He leaned thick dead branches around the base of a tall tree. Finally, he wove a few branches with leaves through for camouflage. It was simple, but it would hide them from anything stumbling on them. Daryl had already been one night without sleep and he probably wouldn't do well without another night of sleep.

Darkness was falling as he went to get Nola, who sitting listlessly by the bank.

"We're gonna stay up here tonight – I can't carry you the whole way back and I don't think your feet are going to make it."

She looked up at him, tears still glistening on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Daryl," Nola sighed.

"Fer what?" Daryl said, genuinely confused. If anything, he should be sorry for dragging her up here.

"For inviting myself along with you and your brother," Nola said through renewed sobs. "I'm not like you guys – I can't hunt, or camp, or fish . . . I'm just useless! If you hadn't have come that thing would have gotten me."

Daryl wasn't good at accepting praise. He'd never considered himself good at anything.

"You're tired, just come get some sleep," Daryl muttered.

Nola rose to her feet and put her arms around Daryl's neck. Now it was Daryl's turn to freeze.

Nola brought her lips to Daryl's. She kissed him softly. His lips were tense and unresponsive. With her arms around his neck she could feel his back tense. After a brief moment, she pulled away, eyes downcast.

Daryl gestured to the shelter he'd made. Nola crawled in and turned on her side to face a wall. Daryl crawled in next to her and laid on his back, arms on crossed on his chest. He licked his lips furtively, tasting Nola's salty tears.

Within moments they were both asleep.


This chapter's a little long . . . I hope you guys enjoy it! I know I'm crunching the time line of the series a bit. To be honest the 2 month lag between the outbreak and Rick meeting up with the group never made sense to me (no way could he survive in a coma unattended for 2 months), so I'm shortening it by a lot. Also I'm not so sure how close I want to stick to the show story line. Obviously it would be a different from the show because Nola factors into the story, but how different? I might just keep writing in fast-forward mode until the prison. Anyways, I write for you guys so let me know what you want! Do you want more gruffiness between Daryl and Nola, or should I keep this PG rated?! XOXO