Alright, time to pick up a little speed!

Warning – There are mentions of things of a more morbid nature in this chapter. You're forewarned.

P.S. I've been toying around with the idea of writing from Daryl's point of view here or there, but I'm still undecided – would that be something that you guys would be interested in?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Chapter 8

A little while later, Jenna stood at the edge of camp with her arms crossed over her chest, watching as Dale's large RV and Carol's yellow Cherokee disappeared into the distance. Only minutes previous the camp had been busy with activity. The others had been moving about packing up their belongings, there had been a lot of chatter as Dale and Glenn gave them last minute advice and as Carol and Andrea gave them several round of goodbye's and well-wishes – Carol had even snagged Jenna and Daryl's dirty laundry, despite Jenna's protests), with the promise of having it clean by the time they made it to the farm. But now that they had all left. Not it was just her and Daryl, and their camp had become eerily quiet.

Jenna sighed before casting a look over her shoulder to see what Daryl was up to. Currently he was organizing supplies and moving things around in the camp, seemingly intent on finding something to keep himself preoccupied. She watched him for another second then turned around to slowly start making her way back into their now much smaller, emptier camp, leaning against her truck once she was only a few feet away from Daryl and feeling a little unsure where to go from there.

What were she and Daryl supposed to do now that it was just the two of them? They didn't get along. Nearly every conversation between them had ended in an argument of some sort, while just about every task that either of them had carried out in contribution to the group had been done without the help of the other – were they supposed to make small talk by discussing the weather or chatting about the scenery? Or were they supposed to do something horribly clichéd like sitting around a camp fire, singing Kumbaya and revealing all of the nitty, gritty details of their lives to each other? The mere thought of her and Daryl actually making nice with each other was a little laugh-worthy – Jenna was fairly certain that he had too big of an attitude problem and that she was too much of a smartass for there to be any hope for a friendship to grow between them.

Yet in spite of all of that, she did find herself wondering this: Why had he chosen to stay with her?

Jenna had her own reasons for staying behind, of course – she felt that she owed it to Carol to help, she wanted the chance to look for Sophia, and she felt like she needed to find out what had been going on just down the road so that they wouldn't accidentally go headfirst into a trap. But Daryl? He could have easily retreated back to the farm with the others and left Jenna to fend for herself – she'd fully expected him to do just that, as a matter of fact. But he'd chosen to stay and help her, despite the fact that he himself had been trekking through the woods all day long. Jenna would be the first to admit that his decision didn't make a lick of sense to her, but figured that he must have had his own reasons as well.

She watched as Daryl lugged one of the large Ozarka jugs that Shane and Glenn had found the day before into their camp. His skin was nearly caked over in dirt and muck from his long journey through the woods and he looked like he could have used about three days worth of sleep, but Daryl didn't seem to be letting either of those things affect him. He simply continued on with what he was doing and started filling up water canteens, obviously preparing for their impending excursion…and it was then, in that moment, that it really hit Jenna.

Short tempers, sarcastic remarks, and petty squabbles aside, whether she liked it or not this crass, cranky redneck was going to be her only company, and only backup, for the next couple of days. And if they wanted to make it to that farm and back to the others without getting themselves turned into a couple of walking corpses, they were simply going to have to come to a truce of some sort. If there was ever a time to attempt to smooth things over with Daryl Dixon, now was it.

Jenna pressed her lips together, sighed, then finally pushed away from her truck to head towards Daryl. He had already finished filling up a few small canteens and had retreated to his motorcycle, where he was digging around in one of the saddlebags for something. "Want something to eat?" she asked once she was only a few feet away. The offer seemed to catch him by surprise, because when he glanced back at her over his shoulder his eyebrows were raised a little. "You have to be hungry after walking around all day."

He was silent for a long second. "I could eat," Daryl finally answered a bit noncommittally before turning his attention back to what he was doing.

Jenna nodded and moved over to the mound of supplies that the others had left for her, Daryl, and Sophia (in case she returned). There wasn't very much to work with, just some assorted canned-goods, various boxes of crackers, a jar of peanut butter and an energy bar or two, but Jenna still plucked up a few things and started trying to figure out a way to turn them into something satisfying. The canned vegetables would taste a lot better if they were hot, but a wary look towards the forest nearby immediately had her rethinking the option of starting a campfire. The sun would be down soon enough and a fire could end up being a mistake - it might alert something, or someone, to her and Daryl's presence on the highway.

"Didn't ya need'ta tell me somethin' earlier?"

Since she hadn't expected Daryl to strike up any form of conversation with her, the question caught her off guard. Jenna pulled her attention away from their food situation and turned to answer Daryl, but the sight that awaited her when she did this instantly had her words dying on her lips.

As it turned out, Daryl had apparently been searching through his bag for a rag to clean himself up with. He had just shamelessly shed his shirt and was now using the rest of the water in the Ozarka jug to wet the rag in his hands and wash away the buildup of dirt and grime decorating his face, torso, and arms.

For a long moment Jenna stood in stunned silence, openly gaping at the bare-chested Daryl. He wasn't sculpted like a Greek God, but it was more than obvious that he had a good deal of muscle on him. He looked strong, sturdy, and all-in-all very masculine…and far more appealing than she had ever taken notice of before that exact moment. She pressed her lips together, eyeing the numerous tattoos now on display, and tried hard to fight down the blush rising within her cheeks. Daryl was the first shirtless man she'd seen in a fairly long time, and, zombie apocalypse or not, she was still a red-blooded woman. The sight of his muscles rippling underneath his tanned skin as he cleaned himself off made it near impossible not to stare in appreciation.

So distracted was Jenna that she'd nearly forgotten Daryl had asked her a question – when it took her a moment too long to respond, he paused in what he was doing to glance over at her with a questioning look. Jenna quickly snapped herself out of it and averted her eyes, the blood finally rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment. She sincerely hoped he hadn't caught her staring at him. He'd never let her hear the end of it if he had.

Shit, what did he just ask me again? Jenna internally struggled to remember whilst outwardly trying to act normal. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked innocently, busying herself by turning away from him and shuffling through the supplies to locate a can opener.

"Earlier ya said ya had somethin'ta tell me," Daryl reminded her pointedly, talking slowly as though trying to communicate with someone who didn't speak the same language. "What was it?"

"Right," Jenna said, now remembering her plans to report the details of her scouting mission to Daryl. "I went hiking down the road earlier today to see what all was lying ahead of us," she started to explain, "and I found some stuff that concerned me a little bit." Jenna diligently kept her eyes on the can she was opening as she talked to Daryl, refusing to take another peek at him or his naked torso. "There was some smoke coming up through the trees about three miles down and there was a truck in the area that looked like it might've been attacked."

"Attacked?" Daryl immediately questioned with a hint of unease in his voice. "By who? Walkers?"

Jenna shrugged a shoulder. "I'm thinking not." She admitted. "There were bullet holes in the driver's side door, so unless walkers have learned to shoot guns then it has to be something – or rather someone – else." Jenna finally chanced a look back at him to see how he was processing this information, then immediately felt her blush return when she realized that he was not only still shirtless, but focused intently on her. He had his arms crossed over his bare chest and the stance made the muscles in his arms and shoulders even more prominent. "I can't be sure," she continued, dutifully holding his gaze, "but there's a good chance it was a gang of bandits."

Daryl straightened up when she said this, the expression on his face suddenly very hard to read. "Bandits?" he repeated skeptically.

"Yeah," Jenna confirmed. "There's gangs of them that camp out along the highways just waiting to ambush people passing by. They're out for other people's supplies and don't have any problems killing anyone who gets in the way of what they want," she quickly explained before scowling and turning back to the can she'd just finished opening. Talking about the highway scum had made all of the unexpected feelings that the half-naked Daryl had procured within her fade away, leaving her instead with a bitter taste in her mouth as she remembered all of the problems she'd had in the past with the people in question. "Those assholes are nothing but trouble."

"Sounds like you're speakin' from experience," Daryl commented. When Jenna did not respond to his remark, he spoke again. "You tell anyone else 'bout this?"

"I told Rick there was a possibility they'd be around last night, but no, no one else knows about the truck," Jenna answered with a shake of her head. "I didn't wanna say anything until I got the chance to check things out a little more, figure out if that was what really happened. Things are shitty enough as is without everyone getting even more panicky." Jenna turned to hand Daryl the can of vegetables and a handful of stale crackers – to her relief, she saw that he had finally donned a shirt again. "Can you imagine what it would've done to Carol if she knew there could be dangerous people in the same woods Sophia's in?" she asked him with a disconcerted frown.

Daryl nodded a little as he accepted the food that Jenna was offering him. "I see your point," he said slowly. Then he seemed to think about what she'd told him for a moment or two before he said, "We'll go check it out in the mornin', see if we can figure out what went down an' whether it'll be a threat to the group or not."

Jenna nodded, glad that Daryl didn't think her concerns were foolish and that he was willing to go back and check out the scene with his own two eyes. "Sounds like a plan," she said, holding his stare for a second before turning back to grab food for herself. "In the mean time, I think we should keep a low profile while we're here. Just in case."

Daryl nodded in agreement. Then, as silence fell between them again, he started eating his dinner.

While Daryl dumped the canned vegetables into his mouth hungrily, not bothering to locate an eating utensil, Jenna headed back to her truck to see if there was anything else that she could add to their scant dinner – she spied the box of granola bars she'd found before joining the group and picked it up, pulling out two. She kept one for herself and tossed the other to Daryl. He caught it with ease and then watched as Jenna went to take a seat in the bed of her truck so she too could start eating her dinner.

Though another few minutes of silence ticked by as they ate, Jenna could feel Daryl's eyes on her the entire time. When she finally slid her eyes over to meet his gaze, there was a calculating look on his face. "These…bandits," he finally started to ask when he noticed that he had Jenna's attention. "You had run-ins with 'em before?'

Jenna frowned and shifted her gaze back down to her can of food. "Yeah," she answered with hesitation. Before Daryl had the chance to ask any more questions about it, she quickly spoke up again. "But I'd rather not talk about that right now if you don't mind," Jenna requested as she met his gaze again, the tone in her voice leaving no room for argument.

Though it looked like Daryl still wanted to know more about her history with this possible new threat, he nodded his head once. "Alright," he said slowly, not prying any further.

Jenna offered a small, grateful smile then took another bite of food. After another stretch of silence passed between them, she finally had to ask the question that had been nagging at her for the past hour or so. "Why'd you stay behind?" she asked Daryl curiously, not bothering to beat around the bush. "Why didn't you go to the farm with the others?"

Daryl straightened up some, the move almost looking defensive. "Why'd you stay behind?" he countered challengingly.

Jenna, who was slowly starting to grow immune to Daryl's break-neck fast mood swings, shot him a pointed look. "I asked you first," she countered right back, one corner of her mouth pulling upward a little.

He seemed a little unamused with her somewhat childish retort, but he finally just shrugged a shoulder and shifted his eyes down to his dinner. "Group's all split up, Sophia's still missin', Carl's shot," Daryl started to explain. "Figured it'd be a good idea to keep an eye on ya, make sure ya don't get yourself lost or killed on top'a everything else." The knowledge that he had stayed behind to make sure nothing happened to her came as a shock, but before Jenna could really even process what that bit of information might've meant, Daryl snorted to himself. "Plus it was the only way'ta get Dale'ta shut the hell up," he added aloofly, shooting a look in her direction.

Jenna nodded slowly, still watching him with both surprise and curiosity. Was she just reading into his words too much, or was Daryl actually concerned about what happened to his fellow group members underneath that rough exterior of his? She pondered this for another second until she realized that Daryl was watching her expectantly, clearly waiting to hear her reason for not continuing on to the farm. "Your turn, red," he prompted.

"After seeing that truck and knowing there could be so much danger out there, it just didn't feel right leaving Sophia to fend for herself," Jenna answered truthfully. "I've been in her position before, so I know what she's going through right now," she then admitted. "Being lost and alone in the woods without food or protection is…terrifying." When Jenna chanced a look at Daryl the expression on his face lead her to believe that he wanted to question her further on what she'd just revealed to him, but to her relief, he held his tongue. "Anyway," she continued, happy Daryl had chosen not to be nosy, "I just wanted the chance to help. You guys have done a lot for me. Seems only right that I do this for ya'll."

Daryl didn't say anything in response to that, merely nodded his head in understanding. Jenna tried to decipher what the expression on his face meant but quickly discovered that she couldn't. He was utterly unreadable right then, giving absolutely no hint as to what was going on in his head right then or what he thought about Jenna's reason for staying.

"So," Jenna said to change the subject, feeling a little vulnerable which, in turn, made her feel rather uncomfortable. "What're the possibilities Sophia might've caused that smoke I saw?"

Daryl finally wiped that indecipherable expression from his face and shrugged a shoulder at her. "I don't know that I'd immediately peg it on her, but I guess it ain't totally impossible," he told her honestly. "Still won't hurt'ta check it out." Daryl then finished off his sparse dinner and tossed the empty can away, wiping his mouth clean with his forearm before grabbing for his canteen of water. After taking a few generous gulps, he tossed it over to Jenna. She quickly scrambled to catch it, then offered a grateful nod before helping herself to the water. "Ya know somethin'? I think this's the first time you ain't been'a complete smartass to me," he observed, crossing his toned arms over his chest as he regarded her. "You're not as irritatin' when you ain't mouthin' off all the time."

Jenna gulped down the water in her mouth before letting out a short laugh. "Thanks…I think," she told him with a hint of uncertainty. "Now that you mention it, I think this is the first conversation we've had that hasn't left me wanting to smack you in the face," Jenna continued thoughtfully. Daryl let out an unattractive sounding snort and rolled his eyes, the disbelieving look on his face clearly stating that he didn't think she'd actually do such a thing. She took his response in stride and smirked back at him. "Guess you're not as irritating either...when you're not being a total ninny-baby."

For a brief second Daryl seemed a little offended and looked as though he wanted to say something biting in response, but when he saw her fighting back an amused smile he immediately understood that she was just joking with him. "Funny," he stated flatly, not looking very amused at all.

Jenna just shrugged an innocent shoulder. "I try," she said with a sickly-sweet smile. She probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but messing with Daryl was actually starting to become kind of fun.

Daryl shook his head to himself, took a large bite of the granola bar she'd given him, then turned to head over to his motorcycle. Jenna watched him go as she finished up her dinner, rather amazed that they were actually getting along for a change. Maybe a truce between her and Daryl wasn't as farfetched as she'd originally thought after all…then again, they had only been alone with each other for only a short while. There was still plenty of time for them to revert back to their bickering ways.

Jenna glanced up at the sky, which had gone dark by now, before squinting to watch Daryl as he rifled through his bags again. He pulled out two flashlights and a jacket, pausing for a second to toss one of the flashlights to Jenna, before finally producing a large, rolled up blanket. "We got a long day tomorrow, wouldn't be a bad idea'ta get some sleep," he recommended as he straightened up to his full height again, eyes also turning up towards the night sky for a quick moment. "You want first watch or second?" he asked, lowering his gaze back to Jenna's.

"I'll take first," she offered, knowing he was probably far more tired than she was. "You did a lot more than me today, and you definitely look like you need the rest."

A grateful gleam flashed through Daryl's eyes for a quick second but he didn't vocalize it, just nodded his head. "Alright."

Daryl then turned and set down his flashlight and jacket before he started unrolling the blanket in his hands. Jenna deduced very quickly that he was about to make his bed for the night on the hard concrete since the RV was no longer available. "Sleep up here," she offered without really even thinking about it, motioning to the bed of her truck with a jerk of her head. "It's more comfortable than the ground."

Daryl froze and looked over at her unsurely. "What about you?"

Jenna just shrugged. "We can trade off."

He still seemed a little skeptical and took a moment to glance back and forth between Jenna's truck and his blanket, trying to decide what he wanted to do. After doing this for another few seconds, he finally seemed to come to a decision – Daryl leaned over to scoop up his jacket and flashlight then made his way over, sparing Jenna a look before hauling himself up into the bed of her truck and depositing himself on the pallet she'd already made there.

The truck jostled a bit as he shifted around and tried to make himself comfortable, then stilled again once he was settled in. Jenna glanced at him over her shoulder and nearly rolled her eyes at the sight he presented. He was blatantly uncomfortable with the fact that he was now occupying her bed - he was laying flat on his back with his arms crossed over his chest, looking as though he was doing his best not to touch too much of her bed. "Don't worry, you won't get any cooties sleeping there or anything," she reassured him with a hint of sarcasm.

Daryl didn't even crack an eye open to look at her as he said, "Don't go turnin' into'a smartass now. Stop while you're still ahead, red."

Jenna couldn't help it – she stuck her tongue out at him, glad his eyes were closed so he couldn't see her doing it. "Well, as my dad always said – better to be a smartass than a dumbass," she told him matter-of-factly. She couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light or not, but Jenna thought she spied a smirk of what seemed like amusement on Daryl's face for a quick moment.

Daryl must have been even more tired than she had thought, because by the time Jenna had finished her dinner, taken a quick bathroom break, retrieved her shotgun, and finally reclaimed her spot next to him in the bed of the truck, he'd already fallen asleep. His breathing had evened out and she could see his chest steadily rising and falling in the moonlight. Jenna settled back against the truck and stretched her legs out across the bed, careful not to touch Daryl as she let out a long sigh and turned her eyes out to scan their surroundings…but after only a few moments, she found her gaze sliding back over to her companion.

Now that there was no risk of getting caught staring at him, Jenna allowed her eyes to roam freely over Daryl's form, the mental image of him bare-chested returning to her thoughts before she could stop it. She supposed she had never noticed his physique before because, well…it had just never crossed her mind that she should. Seeing as their relationship was a fairly volatile one, Jenna was usually too busy being angry or irritated with him and imagining all of the ways she could inflict injury on his person to stop and take the man's physical appearance into account.

But as Jenna's eyes shifted up to his face, which had a more relaxed expression on it now that he was asleep, she realized that Daryl actually was an attractive man. Sure, he was scruffy, unkempt, and rough around the edges, but certainly not unfortunate looking. Daryl Dixon was attractive in that rugged 'manly-man' sort of way. He was the kind of man that had probably never had need for materialistic things, had no problems taking care of himself in extreme situations, and who probably possessed a skillset that would enable him to build a mansion using nothing but a toothpick, chewing gum, and his own bare hands. He was the sort of man that Jenna had always found inexplicably appealing despite the fact that most of her former boyfriends had fallen under the 'All-American' category – like Jon for example, who had always been clean-cut and put together, and essentially had been at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Daryl.

As Jon's face suddenly flashed before her mind's eye, guilt rushed through Jenna like water breaking through the walls of a confining dam. Thinking such things about Daryl had her feeling as though she'd disrespected Jon's memory, like she was betraying him in some way. It had barely been a month since he had died at the hands of those ruthless strangers. The fact that she was even acknowledging the attractiveness of another man so soon after losing him just felt…wrong.

With that in mind Jenna pushed all of her thoughts about Daryl out of her mind and shifted her attention away from him once and for all, diligently turning her eyes to the trees. There were more important things to look out for tonight, like walkers that would gladly have her and Daryl for a midnight snack or thieves that might take a special interest in the large, tank-like truck they were currently sleeping in. She needed to focus on keeping watch rather than on the man currently sleeping only feet away…and Jenna certainly didn't need to let her mind continue to wander to places that it never should have even gone to in the first place.


Everything was immediately different after Kelly died. Conversation was almost non-existent in the days following her death, tempers became increasingly short, and the morale of the group, which had been somewhat optimistic for the majority of the journey, had hit rock bottom. Depression and guilt seemed to be their constant companions now and continued to hang heavy over their heads like a dark storm cloud as the group finally made it out of Louisiana and crossed over into Mississippi.

As they prepared to make camp for the night near a heavily wooded area, Jenna looked over at Jon and sighed to herself, feeling a pang in her heart when she spotted the vacant look in his eyes as he and Bill prepared their hunting rifles.

Since the day she had met him Jon had always been a happy-go-lucky guy, had always had a smile on his face and possessed a vibrancy for life that was infectious. Even when the world had started falling apart Jon had still managed to hold on to his buoyancy, because he'd had the group – he'd had his parents, he'd had Jenna, and he'd had the promise of a safe haven at the end of the road. But now that things were changing, now that they had all been served a very harsh reality check and realized just how fragile everything really was, she could see him beginning to change as well…and not in a good way.

Jenna forced her eyes away from Jon when her mother started to cough violently next to her. Renee had been feeling sick since the previous day, and as Jenna looked over at her with a frown of concern, she noted that it didn't look like the woman was getting any better. Her initial reaction to her mother's unexpected illness had been that of fear, of course, terror that a flesh-eater had gotten to her while she and Jon had been trying to save Kelly two days previous. But Renee had sworn up and down that the sudden sickness was merely due to stress and had nothing to do with a walker. It had been a relief to hear – just thinking about the possibility of her mother being infected made Jenna's heart lurch painfully – but Jenna was still watching her like a hawk, determined to nurse her back to health as quickly as she could. They had already lost one person, she wasn't sure she could handle losing anyone else.

Jenna brought the damp rag in her hands back up to her mother's forehead, wiping at the beads of sweat that were accumulating there. When Renee finally made it through the coughing fit she slumped back a little in the camping chair that Jenna had forced her into upon arriving, panting heavily for air and closing her eyes with a miserable expression on her face. Jenna moved the rag away so she could lay the back of her hand against Renee's forehead, checking for signs of a fever. She felt a little warm, but not alarmingly so.

"How're you feeling?" Jenna asked, smoothing her mother's hair down affectionately.

"Miserable," Renee responded, wincing a little as she tried to get more comfortable in the chair.

"Yeah, looks like it." Jenna offered a small, sympathetic smile before reaching for their bag of medical supplies. She pulled out the bottle of Ibuprofen, which was beginning to look a little low, and dumped a few pills into her hand before reaching for a bottle of water. Just as she started to unscrew the lid off, Renee stopped her by placing a hand over hers. "Mom, you're sick," Jenna reminded her with a frustrated sigh. "You need water and medicine."

Renee shook her head. "We don't have much more," she protested in a weak voice. "We should save it."

Jenna immediately rolled her eyes – and everyone thought she was the stubborn one of the family? 'Stubborn' was practically her mother's middle name. "Stop being a stubborn ass and take the damn medicine," she commanded her mother in an authoritative tone before forcing the medicine into her hand.

Renee turned a glare on Jenna, but in her weakened state the look wasn't nearly as intimidating as it could have been. "Don't curse at me. I'm your mother," she chastised before popping the pills into her mouth and washing them down with a few generous gulps of water. When she finished she made a sound of appreciation and smacked her lips together, then fixed a pointed stare on her daughter. "Satisfied?"

"Yes," Jenna answered with a matter-of-fact nod before leaning down to press a quick kiss to the top of her mother's head. "I'm gonna talk to Jon for a second. Take it easy, alright?"

After Renee nodded in agreement Jenna made her way over to where Jon and Bill were. Jon looked up when he heard her approach but his father didn't acknowledge Jenna's arrival, seemingly much more intent on preparing his gear for their impending hunt.

"Hey," Jon greeted a bit dully, taking a second to glance in Renee's direction. "She feelin' any better?"

"Not really," Jenna answered, crossing her arms over her chest with a heavy sigh. "Look, we may wanna consider camping out here for a couple of days, give her a chance to get her strength back," she suggested with concern obvious on her features. "If we don't let her recover and she winds up getting even sicker. It could cause more problems for everyone."

Jon let out a heavy breath and pursed his lips, seemingly contemplating what she had just told him. After a long moment he finally nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, but we're not staying out here," Jon answered, glancing around their rather exposed campsite. "I'll scope out the forest while dad and I hunt, see if there's a place for us to camp that isn't so out in the open."

Jenna smiled at him gratefully, relieved he was being so understanding. "Thank you."

Jon offered a small, close-lipped smile in return but Jenna could tell that it was forced. He looked to his father when the man got to his feet and started rounding up the rest of his gear, then turned his eyes down to Jenna again. "We'll try not to go too far or be gone for too long," he told her. He then placed a hand on the side of her neck, staring into Jenna's eyes intently. "Just…keep an eye out, alright?" he urged. After Jenna nodded in agreement, Jon stepped in close to place a lingering kiss against her lips. "I love you," he whispered when he pulled away from her again.

"I love you, too," she told him just as quietly.

With that Jon flashed one last half-hearted smile and then turned to leave. The moment he stepped away from her a sense of dread started to fill Jenna's body but she didn't say anything about it, not wanting to cause Jon anymore stress when he was already dealing with so much. She glanced over at Bill, who finally nodded to her with a forced smile, then watched silently as he and Jon walked away from their small camp and then disappeared into the trees.


After laying out a mound of supplies for Sophia and leaving a sign informing her to stay put should she find her way back while they were gone, Jenna and Daryl grabbed their packs, went over their plan a few more times, then set off down the highway. Since she already knew that the area was relatively clear thanks to her trek the day before, they didn't feel the need to dawdle and led Daryl straight to the sight of the busted up truck in fairly decent timing. When they arrived, Jenna saw that almost nothing about the scene had changed – everything still looked as questionable as it had when she had been there the previous day. The only small difference now was that the truck's engine had died sometime over the course of the past twenty-four hours and, unlike yesterday, there was no smoke drifting up from the trees.

"What do ya think?" Jenna asked, glancing back at Daryl over her shoulder. She had decided to stand guard while he inspected the truck, just in case.

Daryl, who had been halfway inside the truck, backed out until he was in the street again. He heaved, eyeing the truck untrustingly, then looked to Jenna. "Don't look good," he admitted. "You were right'ta worry 'bout it." Jenna left her post to join Daryl at the truck when he motioned her over, listening intently as he started pointing out certain things once she was by his side. "See that?" he asked, pointing to the glass on the driver's seat and floorboard. "This window was shot out from the outside." Then he pointed to some bullet holes inside the cab that she hadn't previously seen. "Bet a week's worth'a meals those came from the outside, too…bet them duffle bags in the back seat weren't always empty, neither."

Jenna frowned up at him, eyebrows furrowing together. "So this was an attack?" she asked for clarification.

Daryl pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes, then slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I think so," he answered, adjusting the crossbow that was hanging from his shoulder.

She heaved and shook her head with a sinking feeling. Jenna hadn't thought it possible, but things had just gotten even more complicated. "But wouldn't we have heard it?" she asked in confusion. "I mean, camp's only a few miles away. We should have been able to hear that much gunfire, right?"

Daryl turned his eyes down to hers knowingly. "Not if they got silencers."

Jenna immediately frowned in disconcertion. "Where the hell would they have gotten those from?"

"Shit, you can make 'em if ya got the right tools," he informed her matter-of-factly.

"Great," she responded dully, feeling even more uneasy with the situation than she already had. "So Sophia's stuck out there with a bunch of well armed, well prepared Neanderthals. Just wonderful," she said, her voice dripping with pessimism.

Daryl, who also seemed a little unsettled with the turn of events, stared down at Jenna for a second before turning to face the trees. "Where'd ya see that smoke again?" he asked, raising a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun as he peered around.

"About a mile or so that way?" she estimated, pointing in the direction that the smoke had been in the previous day. Daryl immediately started to head for the guardrail separating them from the forest without so much as second thought, going in the direction Jenna had indicated. Jenna, on the other hand, had some reservations and quickly grabbed him by the arm to bring him to a halt. "Are you sure we should just go barging right in?" she asked uncertainly.

"You wanna find Sophia 'fore someone else does or not?" Daryl retorted pointedly, shaking off her hand.

Jenna's expression turned incredulous. "What kinda stupid ass question is that?" she responded with a small scowl, narrowing her eyes at him. "Of course I wanna find her. All I'm saying is that we don't know if the people that did this are still around or how many there are," Jenna explained. "We need to be smart about this, remember? We're no good to her if we're dead."

Daryl and Jenna stared each other down for a long moment until he finally seemed to decide that she did in fact make a good point. He let out another heave before nodding his head. "Fine. We'll backtrack a bit, find another way in," se conceded, making her nod once in approval. "C'mon, then," he said, before motioning for her to follow him.

The two walked about a half mile back in the direction they had just come before they finally agreed that they had gone far enough, turned to head off of the highway, and started for the trees. Daryl cleared the guardrail without hesitation, looking completely at ease and in his element as he went traipsing into the surrounding forest, but Jenna trailed behind him with far less enthusiasm. She lingered by the guardrail for a second and sucked in a few deep, calming breaths, before she finally hauled herself over it and went trotting down into the forest.

Jenna, who had been avoiding going into any sort of wooded area for a very long time now, hadn't really been sure how she would handle it when she finally stepped foot in a forest again. At first she felt alright as she trailed after Daryl, though she continued to regard her surroundings with wary, untrusting eyes. But all it took to change that and immediately put her on high alert was one unexpected snapping of a twig a few moments later. As she held her shotgun in a vice-like grip and quickly scanned the area, her throat started to feel little constricted and her heart began pounding so hard that she thought it might burst right out of her chest at any given moment. Chances were it was probably just a rabbit or a squirrel that had made the noise. But much like the day before, just being in this setting made her jumpier than usual. And facing her fears again was making all sorts of memories come rushing back to her, none of which were making her feel any better about the situation she was currently in.

You'll be fine, Matthews. You're with Daryl – you're not alone, Jenna inwardly reminded herself, trying hard to calm the anxiety and nerves beginning to consume her. But no matter how many times she repeated the mantra in her head, it was doing nothing to thwart her growing unease or ward off the memories that had pushed to the forefront of her mind with a vengeance. She fought against them with all her might, tried to force them away so she could concentrate on what she and Daryl were trying to accomplish, but she just couldn't. She wasn't with Daryl anymore. She was right back in that forest where Jon and Bill had died. The memories of that terrible night began to relentlessly replay in her mind, torturing her as they forced her to relive the deaths of the people she cared about, until Jenna felt like she was on the verge of having a small panic attack right then and there.

"What the hell's wrong with ya, red?" Jenna hadn't realized that she'd been standing there looking like a deranged person until Daryl's voice cut through the rapid procession of thoughts swirling through her head. She was snapped back to reality and managed to focus in on him just as he came walking back towards her, looking half-worried and half-alarmed at the same time. Jenna brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, shaking her head in an attempt to shake away her moment of panic. "You alright?" he asked uncertainly once he had come to a halt in front of her.

Jenna dropped her hand from her face and shook her head. "I don't…don't do so well with the woods," she admitted with a steadying breath, hating herself for letting him see her in such a vulnerable state but knowing she would be unable to keep up a calm façade. "I lost almost my entire group in the forest, and being here now is...is making me..."

She waved a hand around, struggling to get the words out. He was the first person that she'd admitted this fact to. And – because he was Daryl Dixon – she fully expected for him to scoff and tell her to suck it up. But to Jenna's surprise, he closed the distance between them in the next moment and reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," Daryl said in a surprisingly gentle tone, catching her full attention. When she met his gaze, there was a hint of concern lurking in his blue eyes. Jenna figured she had to be in pretty bad shape if she'd managed to bring this side of him out. "We'll be fine," he reassured her. "Ain't nothin' gonna happen long as I have anything'ta say 'bout it, ya got that?"

Jenna sucked in a calming breath and then nodded her head, now feeling unbelievably foolish for the way she had acted - and around Daryl of all people. "Sorry," she mumbled out, trying not to look as mortified as she actually felt.

Daryl quickly shook his head. "Don't need'ta apologize," he told her. Then he dropped his hand from her shoulder and jerked his head a little, motioning for her to continue forward. "C'mon, red. I'm right beside ya."

Jenna was still completely embarrassed as they resumed their journey, but she at least didn't feel quite as panicky anymore. Daryl continued to eye her as though she were a ticking time-bomb that might explode at any given moment, but she chose to ignore it. When she did finally meet his gaze for a brief moment, Jenna could see that there was obvious curiosity in his eyes, a look on his face that left her with no doubt that he was asking himself just what the hell she had been through before joining the group. But he didn't pry or ask any questions, and the two trudged through woods without making conversation as they instead concentrated on the task at hand. This time around, Jenna managed to hold herself together.

After a while, when her embarrassment finally wore off, Jenna was left feeling both a little surprised and a little confused by how easy it had been for Daryl to successfully calm her down. One comforting gesture on his part coupled with a few reassuring words and he'd managed to pull Jenna back to center and keep her from losing her head completely. How in the hell had he done that? Even Jon hadn't always been able to calm her down whenever she worked herself into a state like the one she'd just been in. Daryl had said that he wouldn't let anything bad happen and Jenna had believed him one hundred percent, which now left her with one glaring question.

Why, when she and Daryl barely even got along and when she wasn't even sure that she could classify him as a friend, did she feel so completely and irrefutably safe with him?

The two had hiked through the woods for about an hour before Daryl finally started to pick up on minute details here or there, though admittedly Jenna had absolutely no idea how he managed to spot the tiny little clues that she would have never given a second thought to. He saw a partial footprint here, noticed a haphazardly placed twig there – it was as though Daryl was a seasoned detective the way he was able to locate the tiniest of imperfections that would eventually lead him to exactly what he was trying to find.

"Well, whoever came through here wasn't alone," he announced as he squinted down at the ground, kneeling on one knee so he could get a closer look. "Pickin' up on three, maybe four sets of tracks." Then he leaned down a little more so he could get an even closer look. "This one's different," Daryl told her with a small frown. "Like they weren't walkin' right."

"A walker maybe?" Jenna asked, peering down at the 'trail' in question, which looked like nothing but some scuffed up dirt and a few broken twigs to her.

Daryl shook his head. "Don't think so…looks like someone was bein' dragged."

His observation sent a wave of uneasiness through Jenna, but she didn't voice it to Daryl. When he stood to his full height again, raising his crossbow up in front of him defensively and continuing on with a determined look of concentration on his face, she quickly followed after him. Jenna readjusted the shotgun in her hands and let her eyes survey the area with caution as they trucked along – she had absolutely no idea where they were or what they might be on the verge of finding, but right about then she was pretty damn happy that she hadn't decided to go waltzing into the forest alone the day before. As uncertain as she was about their current situation, Jenna did feel better having Daryl there to watch her back.

Another twenty yards or so into the forest, Jenna and Daryl finally found what they had been looking for – they had just pushed their way through a thick brush when they stumbled upon a lone cabin tucked deep into the woods, far away from any other form of civilization. As the lingering scent of burned firewood reached her nose, Jenna shared a sideways look with Daryl. Then they both turned their attention back to the cabin in front of them.

She didn't even get a chance to ask him what they were going to do from there before Daryl spoke up. "Ya got my back, red?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the cabin.

Jenna fidgeted a bit but nodded her head anyway. "Yeah, right behind you."

Without hesitation, Daryl started moving in the direction of the cabin, crossbow raised and eyes locked on their target as he crept forward. Jenna followed close behind him, eyes alert as she searched around for any signs of life. There seemed to be nothing and nobody around, nor were there any sounds of movement from inside the cabin as they closed in on it. She didn't drop her guard, though – for all they knew, someone had heard their approach and was just biding their time for the right moment to strike.

Jenna took a peek through one of the dirty windows when she and Daryl reached the house, but saw nothing of interest inside. When Daryl looked to her questioningly she just shrugged in response and shook her head, silently telling him that there didn't seem to be anyone else present. He made his way towards the front door after that, raising a finger to his lips and signaling for her to keep quiet. Jenna's heart started pounding in her chest again as he made a grab for the handle but she held her ground, ready to move in on his command. Daryl looked to her one last time, nodded his head, then finally flung the door to the cabin open.

She was half expecting an ambush to be waiting for them on the other side, but as they went barging into the one room cabin with their weapons at the ready they both quickly realized that the place was empty. Jenna and Daryl both lowered their weapons, sharing a look of relief, then broke off in separate directions to start inspecting the contents of the cabin.

Though there was no one inside currently, it was pretty obvious that someone had been there recently. A number of dirty dishes which small remnants of food on them littered the top of a rickety table on the right side of the cabin, a few unmade beds were set up in the corners of the room, and there were clothes strewn carelessly around the cabin. While Daryl crouched down by the fireplace to inspect the remains of the burned wood resting on the grate, Jenna started to rummage through some of the clothes lying around, trying to get a feel for who might occupy the cabin. Most of it was men's clothes that looked as though they'd been through hell and back.

"Wood looks like it's been burned pretty recent," she heard Daryl announce behind her. "Bet this caused the smoke ya saw."

Jenna nodded in understanding, still inspecting the disheveled clothes. But as she suddenly came across a woman's blouse, she paused and then plucked it up with a frown – it seemed very out of place amongst all the grungy men's clothing. She stretched it out to get a better look, and that was when Jenna noticed that numerous buttons were missing, that the fabric was ripped in some places, and that there was some blood staining it in a few sporadic places. Now, seeing as it was the apocalypse and there were no more washing machines, it wasn't exactly uncommon for clothing to look worse for wear…but something about the state of the blouse didn't sit well with Jenna. She turned back to Daryl, holding it up.

"Hey, Daryl?" she said to catch his attention. "Come take a look at this."

Daryl got to his feet and came to join Jenna, pulling the shirt from her hands so he could get a better look at it. After a moment or two of inspection he turned his eyes to the clothes around his feet before crouching down to rifle through them. After shuffling the items around for a few seconds, he suddenly froze. "What the…"

The moment Jenna saw what he was looking at, her heart dropped into her stomach. He'd just found a pair of what was obviously women's underwear. The flimsy fabric was torn in several places, as though it had been ripped off of someone. "Is that…?" Jenna started to ask unsurely, not even certain she wanted to know the answer.

Before she could finish her question Daryl was on his feet again and hastily ushering her out of the cabin with a firm hand on her back. "C'mon," he said authoritatively, leaving no room for argument. He looked as uneasy as Jenna felt as they exited the cabin and wasted no time to raise his crossbow again once they were out in the open, glancing around alertly.

"Do you think – " she started to question again.

"I dunno," he interjected, taking a hand off of his crossbow so he could wrap it around her elbow and begin to half-lead, half-drag her away from the cabin. "But we ain't stickin' around'ta find out," he added. "Let's get the hell outta here."

Jenna didn't put up an argument – clearly something had happened here, and if that something was bad then she had absolutely no problems leaving the cabin behind. But before they could make it very far they suddenly heard the snapping of a twig nearby and both immediately went into defensive mode, raising their respective weapons and turning in the direction of the noise. Daryl shot a look at Jenna before beginning to creep away, holding a hand up and signaling for her to stay put.

"Daryl," she hissed at him, looking around apprehensively – was he really going to leave her there by herself? Had he lost his mind? "Daryl!" she hissed again, this time with a sharper tone.

He ignored her and continued on. He slunk his way along the side of the cabin, never leaving her line of sight even for a second, until he could take a peek around the back of the wooden structure. When he stopped and lowered his bow some, Jenna was certain he had found the source of the noise – she watched as he stood frozen, staring at whatever he had found for a long, tense moment, his expression disturbed. When Jenna couldn't stand the mystery any longer she started making her way over to see what he'd found for herself, but the instant Daryl saw her movement from the corner of his eye he held a hand up to stop her.

"Ya don't wanna see this, Jenna," he warned her in a very serious tone, shooting an unreadable look in her direction before turning his attention back to whatever was behind the cabin, raising his crossbow again, and releasing an arrow.

As Daryl came trudging back towards her, his expression had gone solemn. When he reached her he wordlessly grabbed her by the arm yet again and continued on, leaving Jenna with no choice but to follow him. "What was it?" she asked as he pulled her along. "Was it a walker?"

"Yeah. And if I had'ta guess, it was prob'ly one'a the people that belonged'ta that truck on the road," he answered without looking at her. Jenna immediately looked at him with wide eyes."We need'ta get outta here 'fore trouble finds us," Daryl finished resolutely.

That was all she needed to hear. Jenna didn't spare the cabin another look as Daryl finally released her so he could raise his crossbow again, but her stomach still flipped over unpleasantly as her mind raced with all the possibilities of what he might have just found. If Daryl's reaction was anything to judge by, then all of her suspicions and fears had just been confirmed – those people had been attacked by someone very dangerous and had suffered a terrible fate. Jenna, an ominous feeling in her stomach, raised her shotgun and quickened her pace so that she would be by Daryl's side, not about to let him get too far away. He spared her a glance before they both quickened their pace, eager to get as far away from the cabin as they could and not even caring how much noise they made with their hasty to departure.


Will we find out what Daryl found behind the cabin? Are Jenna and Daryl in the clear yet? Will trouble find them? You just might find out in the next chapter…

Review!