Daryl watched her from his cot through the screened ceiling of his tent. Her inhuman movements and mannerisms were even more unsettling now that she looked like an actual person instead of a wild woodland creature.

He was treated to the show of her slowly stalking an owl high up in the tree limbs above him. Her patient movements slow, silent, and fluid. As the bird's head began to rotate in her direction it only had time to let out the briefest of shrieks along with a flurry of feathers and talons before her lightning fast hands were snapping it's neck.

With the fowl in her mouth she retreated to the lowest branch, settling herself against the trunk with a brief downward glance to check on him before grey feathers began to rain down. As the crunch of bones snapping and wings being torn off met his ears Daryl marveled at just how capable she was, just like him. Hunters, survivors, warriors. They were made for this world.


The sound of footsteps nearing the flimsy structure containing her counterpart made her plucking fingers cease. The blond female who had first approached them after Daryl got shot was making her way towards his dwelling.

Stuffing her prey in between her teeth she dropped down, startling the yellow haired woman enough to let out a yip, denying her entrance to the tent. Daryl's grumble about Andrea being alright went ignored as she firmly planted herself in front of opening, blocking the other woman's way.

Goldie seemed content to speak with him from the allowed distance with a grunted answer from Daryl here or there. Until she tried stepping closer with the book she'd clutched to her chest in fright at the woman's surprise entrance. A growl along with some feathers thrown her way made Andrea stop, instead opting to extend the paperback her way.

"It's for Daryl." she explained, holding the novel out for the woman to give him while pointing to said man with her other hand.

Once again placing her prize in her mouth she snatched the book from Andrea's hand, loping inside to deliver it to him before returning to her spot. With a few more words exchanged the wheat haired woman left, leaving Daryl and his guard alone.

"Ya don't gotta protect me from 'em, they aint gonna hurt me." he gruffly barked her way, slightly embarrassed at her babying him.

She let out a scoffing breath, turning her head to the side and running a finger along her temple, imitating the spot where the bullet had grazed him. When she raised her arm to do so Daryl noticed three talon sized gashes marring her forearm.

"Screecher gotcha." he muttered pointing to the wounds.

She looked down at them, unconcerned as they'd already stopped bleeding. Propping the source of her injury against the tent side she entered, coming to sit at his bedside. Wanting to prove a theory she had about herself being an abnormality she rested her arm on the cots edge, pointing to the rips in her skin.

Daryl observed them, wondering what he was supposed to be looking at until they slowly began to disappear, her skin closing together, mending itself until only three thin white scar lines remained. The look on his face gave her all the answer she needed. Her healing rate was not normal for a human.

"What tha fuck." he whispered in awe, staring at the scar tissue as he absentmindedly ran a finger over them.

She let out something similar to a purr, making Daryl snatch his hand away, realizing he'd been caressing the marks.

With a disappointed grunt she turned away, resuming her earlier work of feather plucking. Nearing the end of her task she snapped the lower half of the bird's legs off, making the man sporting a baseball cap stop in his approaching tracks. An audible gulp leaving him.

"I a- uh- um-." he stammered, cautiously getting closer.

"God damn spit it out Glen." Daryl snapped, laying the book he'd begun to read on his chest.

"She aint gunna attack ya." he grumbled as Glen stared at the woman who was preoccupied with removing the finer feathers.

"Well she might not, can't make no guarantees." he corrected himself.

"Ah p-peaches and jerky." Glen bit out, coming a little closer and extending the fruit and dried meat when she looked up at him from her work.

Laying the bird down she accepted the food, playing delivery girl once again. Daryl muttered a thanks to him as she resumed her guard post.

She looked up again as the black haired man offered her another peach and strip of jerky.

"Those are for you." he told her, backing up a step after she grunted at him and took them.

She gave her share to Daryl as well after winning the short food shoving fight he tried to put up. Him insisting she keep hers, her growling back at him and shoving her jerky strip in his mouth when he opened it to argue again. He relented when he realized Glen was still outside watching the little spat with an amused grin.

"Are you going to name her? I mean does she know her name?" Glen asked, more curious about the girl now than afraid, a grimace coming to his face as she roughly shoved a stick into the bird's poop shoot and up through its now headless neck.

"If she knows it she aint told me so, hasn't said a word since I met 'er." Daryl replied, a smirk gracing his features at Glen's squeamishness. "S'pose I oughta name 'er if she sticks 'round." he continued with a shrug.

She ambled away towards the small fire in the center of camp, naked skewered owl in her mouth. She didn't get a threatening vibe from the Asian so she figured letting Daryl have a little space after his complaint was acceptable. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as she sat on her haunches, sticking the bird out over the fire and rotating it slowly.

"Mom, can I go get a closer look at her?" Carl asked excitedly from the table he was sitting at, looking over to the girl perched next to the fire.

Lori looked up from sorting dried laundry, a gasp leaving her mouth at the wild woman being so close without her noticing.

"No, you stay right there and finish your homework." she ordered, keeping a sharp eye on her.

"She's dangerous Carl, I don't want you going anywhere near her, you hear me?" she demanded, gleaning an unseen look of disgust from Dale.

Dale watched as the girl looked up from her roasting bird every once in a while to glare at the barn or study Laurie. He had to wonder if she was picking up on the secrets Glen had divulged to him with those heightened senses.

Lori glanced up once again to find the girl looking at her, head cocked to the side, nose rising to sniff the air. The girl stabbed her bird covered stick into the ground, crawling towards the mother and son. Lori began to panic as she came closer, Carl practically bobbing in his seat with excitement.

"Carl get in the tent now!" she commanded, sending the protesting boy into the guise of safety.

As she continued closer Lori backed up until she was trapped against the table. The girl stopped a few feet from her and took in another deep lung full of air.

Lori watched in horror as the girl pointed a finger and her and then made a rounding motion with her hands at her own stomach. 'Baby.'

She knew. With a shaking hand Lori brought a finger up to her lips, the universal sign for silence. Without a word the woman went back to her own business, puzzled over why the baby needed to be a secret. 'Strange humans.'

When the owl was a nice golden brown she retreated back to Daryl's tent presenting him with lunch, happy to see his peach jerky snack was gone.

"Yer gonna make me fat." he complained when she forced the cooked bird meat on him, growling at him until he took a bite.

He tried handing the owl-cabob back only to get another of her guttural sounds. 'Eat it. Now.'

Daryl stripped the bird's small thigh from the carcass, offering it to her after remembering the tiny portion of eggs she accepted that morning.

"Eat it 'er I aint takin' another bite." he insisted when she tried to turn her face away stubbornly.

Reluctantly she took the offered morsel in her mouth only to be stopped when he didn't let go, not allowing her to carry it off and eat with her back turned to him as usual. Daryl got a close look at her teeth as she carefully stripped a piece of meat from the bone with them, making sure to steer clear of his fingers.

They were surprisingly white for someone who had most likely not brushed their teeth in over a decade. The tips of them were pointed and sharp like a carnivore. He wondered if she had filed them so or if it was just another part of her odd altered physical makeup.

When only bone was left she took it from him, catching his hand before he could pull it away. Her fingers were wrapped gently around the fading bruise matching them, keeping him in place as she began licking the meat juices from his palm. Daryl knew trying to pull away would only earn him an animal sound so he was forced to shift uncomfortably and suppress a moan as she took each one of his fingers into her mouth, slowly sucking them clean before releasing his hand.

She dutifully disposed of the carcass when he was finished, devouring the heart and other edible entrails before burying it a ways from the tent. With the majority of the group gone to target practice and a large number of arrow holes poked in the tent's screen Daryl was mind-numbingly bored. He wondered if owl meat had the same chemical as turkey meat because with a full belly he became increasingly drowsy, his eyes floating shut with the image of her lying outside the tent's entrance the last thing he saw before drifting off.

Rolling over again she let out a huff, restless and equally bored. Her muscles were tight and buzzing with energy. She wasn't used to this much inactivity. Lifting her head to look at Daryl she found him asleep, at his most vulnerable. Hardly an appropriate time to go hunting.

Sitting up she spied the peach guy talking with the older male, the only two left present of the group. Letting out a whistle she caught their surprised attention, her wave bringing them both over when she only meant for peaches to come.

"What do you think she wants?" Glen whispered as they walked over, still confused how she learned to whistle.

"Heck if I know." answered Dale, keeping along side him. "But there's only one way to find out."

When they stopped in front of her she imitated Lori's earlier motion for silence, pointing to Daryl's sleeping form. At their nods of understanding she pointed at Glen, motioning with two of her fingers from her eyes to Daryl. 'Watch him.'

Another nod set her off running, toes and fingers digging into the soil as her limbs ate up the ground. With a lap around the camp completed in under a minute she took another, glancing over to find the two men standing in front of Daryl's tent watching her in awe. She put on a show, upping her speed until her muscles burned happily at being pushed to their limit.

"Holy shit she's fast. Daryl wasn't lying." Glen whispered as they watched her take her third lap.

"I can't wait to watch her take down some walkers!" he murmured a little louder, getting geeked up by the idea.

"She'll be an asset in protecting the group no doubt." Dale muttered, neck craning to watch as she scaled the tree and flung herself from branch to branch like a professional acrobat.

A little while later she returned to them panting, happily exercised. With a shoo of her hand she sent them back about their business, taking up her spot on the ground. She was pleased when the majority of the group returned, giving her something to look at.

She studied each one of them, their physical features, their movements and behavior. With a much wider range of people to learn from now she found herself observing more and more human traits she was lacking, more things that made her different.

She was happy to find her two least favorites did not return with them. There were no tears or looks of sorrow on the faces of those who did so she canceled out death as the possible reason. She found herself favoring the alpha and peaches, as she'd come to calling him in her head, the most.

The child intrigued her but sharp glares from his dark haired pregnant mother kept her at bay. The dark skinned man and the grey haired woman held no sway with her either way, they were simply just there. Watching as peaches departed with the bath girl from the house pack she noted that there was a defining separation between the two groups though they shared the same land.


Carl crept closer to the girl on the ground while his mom was off busy not watching him. She raised her head from its cradle on her shoulder when she heard his careful small footsteps, sniffing the air she could smell he had a wound that was nearly healed on his side. She let out a huff, looking around for his mother, wondering if she should be bearing another offspring if she could not manage to keep this one from coming to harm.

Sitting up as he got closer she sniffed at his small outstretched fingers, unsure of what he intended on doing with them so close to her face. His pointer finger poked her quickly in the nose before retreating, making her head cock at him in confusion.

Reaching out she did the same to him, curious as to what the action's purpose was. He just stood there staring at her for a moment, her doing the same from her spot on the ground.

"Carl!" came a screech from across the camp, making the boy jump before he scampered away back to his angry mother.


Maggie's screaming about lotion and abortion pills woke Daryl from his nap, making him grumble about the noise and shift on the cot. She turned at the sound of his voice to find his blue eyes open and watching her, still heavy with sleep. Getting up she made her way towards the center of the camp in search of water. Finding a jug she snatched one of the cups nearby, filling it with the cool liquid.

Next she was faced with a dilemma, walk on three limbs and spill most of the cup's contents or walk on two and only spill a little. Leaving the cup on the table she used it to help her stand up straight before grabbing it with both hands and continuing her slow journey. She was too focused on not spilling the water to notice everyone watching her, staring at her like she was a dog walking on its hind legs.

Finally she made it to the tent where Daryl groggily accepted the water, mumbling about having to piss after he finished it. He didn't even try shooing her away when she followed him to the bush he chose to use, only glancing over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't peeking.

Dinner went much the same way breakfast and lunch had, her piling the food allotted to her onto Daryl's plate, only accepting a bit of it when he pressured her. Once their dishes were collected and night set in she mastered the zipper on the tent door, closing him in so the bugs wouldn't eat him alive.

A worried feeling settled in his gut as Daryl watched through the screen panel while she curled up in front of the door, scared of what would happen if she started talking and screaming in the middle of the night to wake the whole camp. Or worse, if she hurt someone other than himself if her trancelike state happened again.