Even though I did my research, I couldn't really find much about our favorite crossbow slingin' babe pre-apocalypse (other than what we already know)…so most of what you're about to read in regard to Daryl's past is all made up – capeesh?

Also another warning – there is some PRETTY crude stuff bein' said towards the end of the chapter and there's a good possibility some of you might cry at some point. Consider yourself warned.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Don't sue, just read and enjoy…and maybe grab a tissue.


Chapter 9

As night fell on Jenna and Daryl's camp yet again, Jenna rifled through the bags in the cab of her truck in search of something less dirty and less smelly to change into. She finally pulled out the only spare t-shirt and pair of jeans that Carol hadn't taken for washing and immediately started pulling off her grungy clothes, glad to get out of the dirty garments after sweating in them for the last few days. Though she was changing behind the driver's side door and knew he couldn't see her, Jenna still glanced in Daryl's direction to make sure he wasn't watching her undress. At the moment his back was turned to her, and he seemed more intent on the food he was cooking over a low fire than on what she was doing.

They had searched high and low through the forest all day long, redoubling their efforts and taking out any unfortunate walker that crossed their path as they tried in earnest to track down Sophia, but in the end had returned to the highway empty handed. They still hadn't been able to find Sophia or any clues that could have helped them find her. It was very discouraging – the poor girl had been in those woods for three days now – but Jenna supposed there was somewhat of a silver lining in the fact that they hadn't found any traces of the people responsible for what had happened at the cabin either, which they had steered clear of during their search. If nothing else, at least they had managed to avoid running into anyone unfavorable so far and had both made it back to camp in one piece.

Once Jenna was finished changing, she tossed her dirty clothes into the backseat of her truck, shut the door, then went to join Daryl by the fire. He'd managed to hang up a few of their blankets around the flickering flames in a way that concealed some of its glowing light, just to be on the safe side. They had tossed around the idea of getting off the road and moving down into the woods so they would be better concealed, but, after much debate, decided that it would probably be just as, if not more so, dangerous in there. A tent posted up in the middle of the forest would stick out like a sore thumb. At least if they stayed in the truck – which didn't look out of place on the car-infested highway – like they had the night before, it would be easy to hide themselves from prying eyes.

Daryl looked up as Jenna approached before turning his attention back to the squirrels he was slowly turning over the fire. "I'll put it out soon as the squirrels'r done," he told her, easily picking up on her apprehension as she eyed the flames warily.

Jenna nodded in understanding and dropped down into a nearby chair without saying a word, fingers moving to toy with the golden ring hanging from her necklace out of habit.

Things had certainly been a little tense since they had found that cabin. Though it seemed he'd been trying to hide it from her, Jenna could tell that Daryl was still disturbed with whatever it was that he'd found – he'd been more jumpy than Jenna had ever seen him, hadn't dropped his guard once throughout the course of the day, and had yet to abandon his crossbow for even a second. Even now it was propped up on the chair next to him, always within reaching distance. As for Jenna, she'd definitely been in a funk herself – her day in the woods combined with the knowledge that there was someone dangerous nearby had thrown off her normally put-together persona. Every crack of a twig, every unexpected cawing of a bird made her heart skip a beat and had her jumping nearly a mile into the air out of fright, just waiting for something horrible to jump out and ambush them when they least expected it.

Jenna sighed and turned her eyes over to the trees, not sure what bothered her more – the fact that Sophia would have to spend another dark, scary night in the forest by herself or her growing curiosity over what had happened to those poor people back at the cabin. She hadn't dared to ask Daryl about it again and he certainly hadn't gone out of his way to bring up the subject either, but Jenna knew it was something that was weighing on his mind. Part of her wanted to pry, wanted to know what had affected him so much, but, at the same time, she thought she might be better off not knowing. If it had been bad enough to shake Daryl, then surely it wasn't something that Jenna wanted to know about.

When Daryl finished cooking the skewered squirrels, he stood and walked over to hand her one. Jenna took it with a small, grateful smile, dutifully ignoring the fact that she was about to eat a woodland creature as though it were corn on the cob, and started eating. Daryl made quick work of putting out the fire, sending their camp back into darkness, before he plopped down in a chair across from her and started on his own meal.

"If someone had told me a year ago that squirrel would become a delicacy some day, I'd have thought they were out of their mind," Jenna commented thoughtfully when she could stand the silence no more. Though conversation had been scarce because they'd both been on edge all day, she hoped that having one with Daryl now would help distract her from her own troubled thoughts. "They're not bad, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to eating them."

"Gotta do what ya gotta do, right?" Daryl responded, taking a large bite of his own squirrel. "'Sides, it ain't like there's a whole lot'a options on the menu anymore."

Jenna tilted her head as she watched him, curiosity starting to fill her as she regarded her companion. She'd been travelling with him and the group for nearly a week now, but she was only now realizing that she still didn't know very much about Daryl. She didn't know where he had come from, how he had ended up with the group, how he had become the man he was today - in fact, one could argue that didn't know anything about him, save for the fact that he was a good hunter, a good zombie killer, and apparently had a brother named Merle. As she considered this, Jenna, surprisingly enough, found that she wanted to learn more about him.

"What did you do before the apocalypse?" she asked without warning, making him freeze mid-bite as his eyes darted to hers in surprise. "You know, what was your life like?"

"Why do ya wanna know?" he asked guardedly.

One of Jenna's eyebrows lifted up – this was pretty much the same response she'd gotten from him last night when she'd inquired to his reasons for not going to the farm. She was starting to learn that he was someone who didn't like talking about himself very much. "Do you always try to dodge personal questions?"

Daryl snorted in response, making her frown a little. "I could ask you the same thing, red," he tossed back, shooting a pointed look in her direction.

As much as she hated to admit it, Daryl did have a point there. He hadn't been the only one dodging personal questions recently. "Alright then," she said slowly, straightening up in her chair a bit as an idea formed in her head. "How about this – you answer my questions and I'll answer yours," Jenna bargained, though in the back of her mind she knew she was probably setting herself up to talk about things that she'd thus far been avoiding. "Anything goes. Anything you wanna know, I'll tell you."

"And why would I wanna do that?" he asked doubtfully, clearly not seeing – or not wanting to see – the reason for them to have such a conversation.

She shrugged her shoulders at him and looked around at their barren surroundings with wide, critical eyes, emphasizing the fact that they were out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing else to provide them entertainment. "Well, I mean...what else is there to do?"

Daryl shook his head to himself and took another large bite, the look in his eye a little patronizing when he met her gaze again. "What makes ya think I wanna know anythin' about ya?" he shot at her around a mouthful of food. Jenna merely raised her eyebrows in response, a knowing expression on her face. She wasn't an idiot - she knew that her behavior throughout the day had not gone unnoticed by Daryl, and she had seen the questions burning in his gaze every time he looked at her. He could try to be as nonchalant about it as he wanted, but Jenna wasn't fooled. Daryl seemed to realize this too, because he let out a heave of defeat. "Fine, if it'll get ya off my back," he conceded with obvious reluctance.

Jenna smiled in triumph before raising her eyebrows at him expectantly. "Well? Go on," she said with a wave of her hand, urging him to answer her question as she got back to her dinner.

Daryl let out another massive heave before answering. "Nothin' all that much different from what I'm doin' now, I s'pose," se started to explain, before he pursed his lips. "Well…minus the zombie killin', anyway," Daryl corrected himself. "Just hunted a lot an' worked whatever odd job came my way, stuff like that." He shrugged a shoulder after that, his expression nonchalant. "Not really all that much'ta do in the back-woods'a Georgia 'cept hunt deer an' get shitfaced at the bar."

Jenna nodded her head, not all that surprised with Daryl's answer since she'd been expecting to hear something along those lines. "Do you miss your home?" she asked next.

Daryl just pulled a face. "Didn't have much'uva home'ta begin with," he admitted, now looking anywhere but at her. "Can't miss somethin' ya never had, right?" Jenna wasn't sure why, but his words made a small swell of sympathy rise up within her. When she opened her mouth to question him about it a little more, though, he quickly beat her to the punch. "Ain't we both 'sposed'ta be askin' questions here?" he reminded her, obviously wanting to turn the focus of their discussion away from himself.

Jenna pressed her lips together. "Right, sorry," she told him before relaxing in her seat a little further and taking another bite of her squirrel, mentally steeling herself for whatever questions he might have for her. "Go on, Dixon. Ask away."

A pensive expression passed over Daryl's face as he contemplated what he wanted to ask her about. Though Jenna had already been positive she knew exactly what he was going to inquire on – either her trip to Georgia, her group, or both – he surprised her by instead asking, "You always had night terrors?"

Her eyebrows immediately stitched together in confusion. "What?" she asked in utter befuddlement, having absolutely no clue what he was talking about. "What night terrors?"

Jenna's confusion seemed to have thrown Daryl off a little. "First night on the highway you were thrashin' around an' mumblin' to yourself in your sleep. Looked like you were tryin'ta fight off a ghost or somethin'," he explained slowly, eyebrows furrowing together. "Woke some'a the others up…freaked 'em out a little, too."

Jenna thought back to the morning she'd woken up and gotten strange looks from the others, and how she hadn't known the reason for it. Now, given what Daryl had said, she understood exactly why they had been regarding her so warily. Jenna looked down at her lap, feeling her cheeks heat up a little bit in embarrassment. "I, uh…didn't realize I was having them," she admitted, turning her eyes away from Daryl's. "I was alone for so long...nobody else around to tell me it was happening. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised though," she added, frowning. "I have a lot of bad dreams."

"'Bout your group?" he asked bluntly.

Jenna's eyes shot back to his. She hesitated for a nanosecond before nodding her head. "Yes," she told him truthfully, one hand once again unconsciously rising up to fiddle with the ring hanging around her neck.

Daryl had noticed the movement on Jenna's part and watched her toy with the necklace for a long, silent moment. He must have remembered the group's conversation from the first night Jenna had been with them, where she had revealed that the ring once belonged to her mother, because when he spoke next, he asked her one of the questions she'd been dreading. "What happened to her?" he asked, eyes lifting back to hers as a small frown turned the corners of his mouth downward. Jenna looked at him with obvious reluctance. "Anything goes, 'member?" Daryl reminded, but there wasn't sarcasm or malice in his expression, only curiosity.

Jenna, who had known this conversation was going to happen sooner or later, felt her chest tighten a little as she decided to just tell him the truth and get it over with. She had to clear her throat before she could speak again.

"She got sick," she stated plainly, a faraway look entering her gaze as her thoughts turned back to the events leading up to her mother's death. "Not zombie-sick, but sick-sick," Jenna momentarily clarified before continuing. "We'd had a rough couple of days. My boyfriend's mother got eaten by a bunch of chompers right in front of us after a supply run went awry. It had been our first loss in the group, so it hit everyone pretty hard." She paused to look at Daryl – he was listening with rapt attention. "We ended up making camp in some forest in no-man's-land Mississippi for a few days so we could all recoup a little, try to get our heads on right again. Things were alright at first. Mom started feeling better, my boyfriend and his dad hunted a lot, kept themselves busy so they wouldn't have to think about Kelly's death. Everything seemed like it was going to be…okay."

Then Jenna remembered that last day in their camp, when things had unexpectedly taken a turn for the worst. And, after sucking in a deep breath, she started to recount the memory to Daryl…

OOO

"Here, let me help you with that," Jenna quickly offered when she saw her mother lugging a mound of dirty clothes though the campsite. She hurried over to her side, fully intending to take the clothes from her and force her to rest a little more, but one stern look from Renee stilled her movements.

"Honestly, Jenna, I'm not bed-ridden," she chastised, though the tiny smile on the corner of her mother's mouth let Jenna know she wasn't all that upset with her. "You don't need to coddle me. I can handle doing a little laundry."

Jenna pressed her lips together uncertainly, watching as Renee continued on. There was a creek only about thirty or so yards from where they had made camp, which was where she was sure her mother planned to do the laundry. She wasn't about to let her go anywhere on her own but, at the same time, Jon and Bill were out hunting again and she wasn't sure she wanted to leave the camp and all of their supplies unattended either. "Shouldn't we wait until Jon and Bill get back?" she asked.

Renee paused and turned a look on Jenna. "Honey, I've been cooped up in a tent for three days. I need to do something or I'm going to lose my mind," she informed her, a slightly pleading expression on her face now.

Jenna sighed and thought it over before finally giving in and nodding her head. "Fine…but I'm coming with you," she said sternly before reaching over to snatch up her shotgun and then quickly following after her mother.

The two women trudged silently through the woods, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that could pose a threat along the way. Luckily the area seemed to be clear and they made it to the creek without any problems only a handful of minutes later. Renee immediately dropped the bag of dirty laundry and hiked up her pants a little before crouching down by the creek, running her fingertips through the water for a moment before turning back to the bag and beginning to pull out clothes. Jenna glanced around for a second before propping her shotgun up against a nearby try and then kneeling down next to her mother to help her.

"Do you think they'll have washers and dryers at Fort Benning?" Renee asked as they started scrubbing at the stains decorating a few of Jon and Bill's beyond dirty shirts.

Jenna looked over at her mother and sighed. "God, I hope so," she told her earnestly. "This creek water is probably doing more damage than good," she added, pulling a face as she dipped Jon's shirt in the brown, slightly murky looking water. "Better than nothing though, I guess…"

Renee looked over at Jenna with a small frown. "How're Jon and Bill holding up?" she asked with concern seeing as she had been resting quite a bit over the past few days and hadn't interacted with either man very much.

Jenna shrugged a shoulder. "As good as can be expected," she told her dully, the air around them growing a little heavier with the reminder of the tragedy their group had just suffered. "They're getting by though…somehow."

"We should do something nice for them," Renee suggested with a nod of her head. "Something to try and get their spirits up again."

"Like what exactly?" Jenna asked with a hint of doubt. It wasn't a bad idea, but seeing as they were in the thick of a zombie apocalypse, the time and resources to do something nice for anyone were hard to come across. Her mother seemed to realize that too, because she pursed her lips before sighing and shrugging a shoulder.

"I don't know…we'll figure something out."

Their conversation paused when a loud gunshot sounded through the trees in the next moment. Both women froze, eyes turning up from their task and searching around apprehensively. When no other shots followed the first, they looked back to each other with questioning expressions. "Jon and Bill?" Renee asked uncertainly, doubt etched onto her face.

"Probably," Jenna answered, hoping that it was indeed them and that the gunshot they'd heard had been intended for the buck that the two men had been tracking since yesterday afternoon. "We should hurry up here," she continued, getting back to the laundry and scrubbing with renewed determination. "We shouldn't be out in the open like this for too long."

Renee seemed to agree, because she nodded her head and followed Jenna's lead, scrubbing the shirt in her hands a bit harder and a bit faster.

For five tense minutes they continued like this, working in silence now and keeping a wary eye out for danger as they made quick work of the laundry. There were no other shots fired, no other sounds in the forest besides that of splashing water every time she or her mother sunk another article of clothing into the creek. Jenna silently prayed that Jon and Bill would return soon, never feeling too comfortable with any situation whenever both of the men were gone. Even though Jenna had gotten a little better at protecting herself by this point in their journey, everything always seemed a little more unsafe, a little more daunting whenever it was just her and her mother on their own.

The sudden snapping of a twig immediately caught the attention of the two women, both turning their heads sharply to look in the direction that they had heard the sound. Jenna shot a look at her mother before getting to her feet and retrieving her shotgun, raising it up in front of her as she regarded the trees untrustingly. She listened out for a second, hoping it had just been a rabbit or a squirrel, then frowned deeply when the sound of slow feet shuffling along the forest floor registered in her ears.

"Jon?" she called out, tightening her grip on her gun. "Bill?" There was no response.

"Jenna, is it – " Renee started to ask in a frightened voice.

Jenna quickly shushed her mother, making the woman immediately fall silent again. Her unblinking eyes never turned away from her surroundings, her grip on her gun never loosened even for a second as she waited to see what might be headed in their direction. Finally, after a half a minute, a grotesque walker appeared from around a thick brush, already groaning with hunger as it caught sight of the two nearby humans.

"Shit," Jenna hissed, cocking her gun and aiming the double-barreled weapon at the monster's head.

But just as she was about to pull the trigger though, another walker suddenly came stumbling around a tree on her left. Then two more on her right. And another behind the first. With a sinking feeling of despair she realized that not one, but an entire group of chompers had just found them…and the only weapon that she had to protect herself and her mother with was one double-barrel shotgun. She already knew that it wouldn't be enough to protect them.

She started backing up towards her mother, her heart pounding against her chest with fear as the walkers quickened their pace and came toward them. "Jenna, what do we do?" Renee asked, grabbing her by the arm once she was close enough.

Jenna looked around for a quick second. "Find a weapon!" she instructed, quickly turning her focus back to the walkers when one surged ahead of the rest and came grappling toward her.

"Where?!" Renee asked incredulously.

"Anywhere!" Jenna shouted back.

When the fast approaching walker was only a foot or so away, Jenna rammed the butt of her shotgun into its face instead of shooting it, wanting to save her limited ammunition for when she really needed it. As the thing fell to the ground she slammed the heel of her foot into its head, killing it. She then took a quick look behind her and saw that Renee had moved away from her side and was searching around the forest floor, trying to find something to protect herself with. Just as she saw her mother pick up a large branch and wield it in front of her like a sword, two more zombies closed in on them. Renee swung the branch at the one closest to her, nailing it in the head, while Jenna deftly sidestepped the large male chomper that tried to make a grab for her. As it stumbled forward a little, arms trying to close around her but only wrapping around air instead, she kicked out its leg and then whacked it in the back of the head with her shotgun, making it fall to the ground.

"Jenna! Help!" her mother suddenly screamed.

Jenna turned and saw that Renee was trying – and not really succeeding – to fend off two more walkers with her stick. She moved to hurry toward her mother so she could help her, but before she could make it very far the large male that she'd just whacked suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the ankle. Jenna went tumbling to the ground with a shout of surprise, wincing when she landed on the hard on the forest floor. Her mother was screaming again – whether it was out of fear or concern for her daughter, Jenna wasn't very sure – but Jenna was too preoccupied with the large zombie now practically crawling on top of her to see what was happening with Renee.

Jenna kicked at and wrestled with the zombie as it growled and chomped and bared its teeth, hovering over her and already trying to sink its fingernails into her skin. The only thing keeping it from completely sprawling out on top of her was the shotgun that she had braced horizontally against its chest. But this particular walker was much bigger and much stronger than Jenna, even more so since it was driven by crazed hunger. She knew that if she didn't get it off of her, and fast, that she would soon be overpowered and become its lunch.

She didn't know how, but after a few more seconds of struggling Jenna managed to get a knee in to the walker's side and send it tumbling off of her. She panted as she scurried to her feet, skirting around its hand when the mongrel reached for her again, and wasted no time pressing the barrel of her shotgun to its temple and pulling the trigger. And it was then, as the walker's head exploded, that an anguished scream suddenly tore through the air.

Jenna whipped around lightening fast, then felt the blood in her veins turn ice cold – one of the walkers that had been closing in on Renee had managed to get past the woman's wild swings and had latched onto her, its teeth already sinking into the juncture between Renee's neck and shoulder. "No!" Jenna yelled at the top of her lungs, already running towards the crying, screaming woman. She shot the second walker that had been attacking her mother just before it was about to take a bite out of Renee's arm, then, since she was out of ammunition now, smashed the butt of her shotgun into the head of the one already on Renee once she was close enough.

The walker released Renee and fell to the ground. Jenna wasted no time and slammed her boot into its face several times, driven by rage, not even noticing the blood splattering her clothes as she attacked the walker that had bitten her mother. Once it was dead and the area was secure again, she looked to her mother, chest heaving as she panted for air. Tears immediately formed in her eyes when she saw the fatal bite wound on her mother's neck. As Renee, now pale in the face and bleeding profusely, started falling to the ground, Jenna rushed forward to catch her.

"Mom, no," Jenna pleaded, shaking her head in denial as tears already began streaming down her cheeks. When Renee grew too weak to stand on her own feet, Jenna gently lowered her to the ground. "This can't be happening. You're not hurt. You're not hurt!" she sputtered out, barely even conscious of what she was saying as she pressed her hands over the wound to try and staunch the flow of blood.

"Jenna…" Renee mumbled weakly, eyes filled with tears as her hand tightened on Jenna's shirt, fisting it as she tried to fight through the pain. "Hurts…so much," she told her with a cringe. "Hurts…"

Jenna froze for a moment, staring down at her mother in shock and disbelief, before she finally collapsed on top of her and started sobbing into the woman's chest. She knew right then, in that moment, that her mother was going to die. She hadn't been able to protect her, hadn't been able to save her from the walker. Hadn't been able to get her to Fort Benning like she had promised, nor return her to her only son. Jenna had completely and utterly failed her mother, and she knew that she would never forgive herself for it.

"I'm so sorry," Jenna told her through her sobs, lifting her head again so she could meet Renee's pained gaze. "I'm so sorry, mom. I…I wasn't…strong enough…I…"

Renee shook her head, wincing as she did so. "You…you did w-what you could, baby," she told her weakly, struggling to get the words out as blood began to fill her mouth. Jenna was only vaguely aware of the fact that someone had started shouting for her in the distance, but her focus right then was only on her mother as the woman started speaking again. "You…you have to…to find your brother," Renee told her as sternly as she could, as though she too knew she didn't have much time and wanted to give her these last minute instructions. "Find Sam…you'll…need each other," she wheezed.

Jenna, barely able to see through her tears, nodded her head in agreement. "I will, mom."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

Renee seemed relieved to hear it and closed her eyes, struggling to catch her breath as blood continued to ooze out of the wound on her neck. Jenna dissolved into tears again and leaned over to press her forehead against her mother's, knowing these were her last moments with her and wanting to be as close to her as she could – Renee found the strength to bring a hand up to Jenna cheek, making the redhead cry even harder. "I love you, baby. You're such...such a good woman." She told her in an increasingly faint voice. "Your father…would be so proud."

"I love you too, mom." Jenna told her thickly. "So much."

Silence fell between them for a moment until Renee coughed, the sound thick with blood, then spoke again. "Jenna, don't…don't let me…turn," she suddenly said. "I don't…wanna be…one of them."

Jenna's eyes immediately widened with horror. She knew exactly what her mother was asking of her. "No. No, no, no," she said, shaking her head in denial. "Please don't ask that of me. Please!" Jenna begged desperately. "I can't do it!"

"You have to," her mother said with surprising ferocity. "I'll kill…someone. Don't let me. I don't want…to be a monster."

In the next moment the sound of feet pounding against the forest floor reached Jenna's ears. She straightened up, half expecting more walkers to have found them, then started crying again when she saw that it was only Jon and Bill. Both men came to an abrupt halt and looked at Renee with horror on their faces. "Oh my God…" Jon muttered, taking a few slow steps in their direction. "Oh, Renee…"

He crouched down next to Jenna, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking to her with sad, sympathetic eyes for a moment. His gaze then turned down to her mother when she spoke up again. "I'm begging you," she pleaded as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. "Shoot me now…don't let me…turn." Renee winced again. "End this…pain…"

Jon's eyes snapped up to Jenna's in a heartbeat. He seemed shocked for a moment, clearly having not expected to hear such a request, before a sad gleam entered his eyes. Jenna knew right then that he was willing to do what Renee was asking, but she knew he wouldn't do anything until he had her permission. She dropped her face into her hands, sobbing for a moment as Renee continued to suffer in her final moments, then finally nodded her head. "Okay," she said in a weak voice, lifting her face from her hands so she could meet first Jon's gaze, then her mother's. "We'll do it."

Renee immediately looked relieved. "Thank you," she said, trying to muster up a smile for them but failing. "Don't worry," she told Jenna as Jon got to his feet – Bill had come to join them now with a solemn expression on his face and Jenna saw him discreetly hand a pistol to Jon from the corner of her eye. "I'll…I'll be okay," Renee said, clasping Jenna's bloodied hands with her own. "I'll be with your father again."

Jenna pressed a hand over her mouth and nodded, but couldn't bring herself to say anything in response. A heavy hand dropped onto her shoulder and she glanced up at Bill, who looked to her sympathetically before turning his eyes to Renee. "Thank you, Renee…for everything you've done." he told her. "Jon and I will protect Jenna. I swear it," he told her.

A grateful gleam entered Renee's eyes. "Th-thank…you," she told him.

Jon crouched down next to Jenna again and grabbed Renee's free hand, squeezing it in his own. "I'm sorry," he told her, voice full of regret. "I'm so sorry." Then he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll miss you," he told her, sounding a little choked up. He and her mother had always had a great deal of respect for each other, always had been fond of one another. Jenna knew this couldn't have been easy for him either.

Jon then moved away some so Jenna could have her last words with Renee. Jenna grabbed both of her hands in her own, squeezing them in earnest, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I love you, mom," she told her again. "I'll find Sam if it's the last thing I do. I swear it," she promised with determination.

Renee nodded. "I love you, too…" she said weakly. "Tell Sam...I love him." Then, after Jenna nodded in agreement, she sucked in a shuttering breath and said, "It's time…to let me go…now."

Jenna pressed her lips together, squeezed her hands one last time, then nodded before releasing her and getting to her feet. For a moment nobody dared to move, hardly even dared to breathe as they all watched Renee Matthews close her eyes. A Jon finally stepped closer to Renee and aimed the pistol at her head, Bill wrapped an arm around Jenna's shoulders and pulled her into his side, offering up the support that she desperately needed. Jon hesitated for a moment, glancing back at Jenna one last time, then, as she buried her face into Bill's shoulder with raucous sobs, he pulled the trigger.

OOO

As Jenna finished telling the events of her mother's death, she wiped away some of the tears that had leaked from the corners of her eyes. When she finally looked over at Daryl, he was sitting in stunned silence. Perhaps he hadn't expected the tale to be so heart-wrenching, or maybe he was taken aback by the fact that he was seeing Jenna cry for the first time. Either way, he seemed at a loss for words as she sniffled to herself.

"I try not to think about it," Jenna finally started after a long pause of silence. "But sometimes I wonder – what if we had done things differently?" she asked, frowning at Daryl and wiping at another tear that had just slid down her cheek. "What if we hadn't gone to that creek? What if I had brought more than just a shotgun? What if…" Jenna gulped around a lump in her throat. "What if I had never said anything and we had just moved on instead of making camp in the woods? Would she still be alive now?"

Finally, Daryl spoke up. "Jenna, her death wasn't your fault," he told her slowly, quickly picking up on the fact that she blamed herself and her own decision making for what had happened to her mother.

She couldn't help it - she let out a short, bitter laugh. "How do you know?" she shot at him.

Her moment of acrimony didn't seem to deter him. "Ya did what ya could," Daryl told her determinedly, catching her a little off guard with his attempt to console her. "Ya tried'ta save 'er, tried'ta do what ya thought was best for her. Ya can't blame yourself for somethin' that was outta your control, Jenna."

More tears welled up in Jenna's eyes as she shook her head. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate what Daryl was trying to do, but the guilt and despair she was feeling in light of reliving one of her worst memories was making it hard to believe him. "She was my responsibility," she reiterated. "She depended on me to protect her…and I couldn't. I failed her."

Daryl opened his mouth to say something more, but before he could Jenna got to her feet and snatchd up her shotgun, trying with all her might to hold herself together. He too got to his feet, frowning in concern when she suddenly turned on her heel and started walking away. "Jenna – " he called out, following after her.

She turned and held a hand up, signaling for him to stay where he was. He did. "I just…need to be alone for a little bit, okay?" Jenna told him weakly, knowing she was about to lose it completely and not wanting to do it in front of him. Daryl didn't seem to approve of her decision to leave the camp, but didn't say anything in protest either.

With that Jenna turned around again and made her way out of the camp, weaving her way through the abandoned cars on the road. She could feel Daryl's eyes on her back until she had walked so far that they could no longer see one another. Once she thought she was far enough away so that he couldn't hear her crying, Jenna finally collapsed against an old, rusted over Toyota, let her gun fall carelessly to the ground next to her, and succumbed to her emotions as she buried her face into her knees and started sobbing.


Jenna wasn't really sure how long she sat by the old car crying her eyes out, allowing herself to mourn the loss of her mother - as well as the rest of her former group - for the first time in a very long time. But after a while, when she had finally cried all of tears and had managed to pull herself together enough to be able to face Daryl again, she dragged herself back to her feet and started back towards their camp in a slow, unhurried pace.

Now that she had her wits about her again and was thinking a little more clearly, Jenna was starting to feel guilty for the way she had treated Daryl. He had tried to talk her down, tried to console her and make her feel better about what had happened to her mother – which could have been seen as a miracle in and of itself given the fact that he was Daryl Dixon – and what had she done? She'd not only pushed him away, but had even been insulting about it. Though Jenna had a feeling he probably understood why she'd acted the way she had, she still felt bad about it and had every intention of apologizing to him.

It was a dark night that night, so dark that it was actually a little difficult for Jenna to see as she slowly made her way through the rows of abandoned cars. Unlike the night before, the sky tonight was filled with clouds, blocking all the stars and moonlight from sight and leaving her with very little light to navigate by. When she nearly tripped over a half-empty suitcase lying in the middle of the road, she cursed and glared at the offensive object, wishing she had thought to bring a flashlight with he. She hoped Daryl wouldn't think she was a walker and accidentally shoot an arrow through her brain whenever she reached camp again.

She had just turned and started resuming her trek when an unexpected, albeit faint sound reached her ears. Jenna slowed to a stop again and took a moment to listen, straining her ears to try and determine what it was that she had heard. She couldn't be sure if she was just hearing things or not, but Jenna could have sworn that had been a voice – no, multiple voices – off in the distance.

All thoughts about her mother or that day in the woods vanished from her mind as warning flags immediately went up in her head, causing her to tighten the grip that she had on her shotgun and look around with alert, suspicious eyes. Unless Daryl was talking to himself (quite loudly) or had some secret, working radio that she hadn't previously known about, she could only assume that the foreign voices belonged to people that had wandered too close to their camp. And seeing as she and Daryl now knew that they weren't the only living humans in the area, she had to acknowledge the possibility that the voices belonged to the very strangers they'd been trying to avoid running in to all day long.

With a curse Jenna quickened her pace, still not entirely sure which direction the voices had come from but not about to let Daryl continue to be a sitting duck back at camp and remain none-the-wiser of the fact that someone else was nearby. She scurried along, now a little glad that it was as dark as it was, and was nearly back to her and Daryl's camp when she heard the voices again, this time much louder.

" – that all you got?" an unfamiliar male voice asked snidely, making her come to a screeching halt. "This ain't shit! Where's the good stuff?"

"Check that truck," another, equally unfamiliar voice – also belonging to a man – instructed the first. "There's gotta be somethin' locked away in that toolbox."

With a sinking feeling, Jenna quickly realized that the voices she had heard weren't just nearby. They were in their camp.

Her gut-instinct reaction had her immediately diving behind a car before either of the two unknown men – probably bandits – could spot her, though it was so dark at the moment that they probably wouldn't have been able to see her without a flashlight anyway. Then, as she stayed crouched out of sight wondering what the hell she was supposed to do now, Jenna cursed under her breath again. Where was Daryl? Had something happened to him? Had these men hurt him in some way? The thought of him being injured – or worse – made her stomach turn and bile start to rise in her throat.

She listened, heart pounding against her ribs, as someone noisily stomped along in the bed of her truck before opening the metal toolbox located there with a loud creaking sound. After a few seconds a curse sounded through the air, followed by the slamming sound of the toolbox being shut again. "Nothin'," the first voice announced, sounding disgruntled.

Oddly enough, when the second man spoke again she was filled with a huge sense of relief. "Where you hidin' all your good stuff, bro?" the second stranger asked maliciously. There was only one person that question could have been directed toward – Daryl. And though he was definitely still in trouble, a huge weight lifted off of Jenna's shoulders when she realized that he was at least still alive.

"Fuck you!" she heard Daryl growl in response. "I ain't tellin' you shit!"

She winced when Daryl suddenly let out a short sound of pain. She had no idea what they were doing to him – or what they had already done to him – but knew without even having to think about it that there was no chance in hell she was going to leave him there to fend for himself. Thus far these newcomers didn't know that Jenna was around or that she was armed. She needed to find a way to strike back and help Daryl while she still had the element of surprise on her side.

"Now we can do this the easy way 'r the hard way," the second man told Daryl matter-of-factly. "But I guarantee you ain't gon' like the hard way."

Daryl didn't get a chance to say anything in response before he let out another sound of pain. They must have been hitting him in an attempt to beat information out of him. Jenna glanced around for a moment, searching for anything that could be of use as she tried to formulate some sort of plan, but then froze as the first man spoke again. "Well, would ya looky here," the stranger said evilly. "This here looks like woman's clothing, Buck."

Jenna's blood ran cold – the men must have started looking through the cab of her truck and had found her things inside. The second man suddenly cackled maliciously. "Why I believe you're right, Danny," he said in response. "Guess Robin Hood here ain't as alone as we thought." Jenna cringed when Daryl suddenly hissed with pain. "Where she at?" the one named Buck demanded to know. "She around?"

"Ain't no girl around," Daryl immediately lied. "I'm alone."

Buck cackled again. "He's lyin', I can tell," the man announced confidently. "She's around here somewheres..." Then he said, "Hope she's a good one. I could use me a decent lay."

"Yeah," she heard the other agree enthusiastically, making her skin crawl. "That woman yesterday weren't no fun."

Daryl immediately let out a sound of pure rage, his reaction probably confirming to the bandits that Jenna was indeed still nearby. "If you fuckin' touch her," he growled, sounding beside himself with anger, "I swear to God I'll – oof!"

Daryl's threat was cut short when he was, Jenna could only assume, punched by whoever had managed to take him captive. "You ain't exactly in the position to be makin' threats, are ya?" the man named Buck asked. She could practically hear the evil grin in his words.

"Fuck you!" Daryl snapped again in a severe tone, panting for air.

"Oh, there's gon' be some fuckin' tonight, you can be sure'a that," the bandit informed Daryl with another dangerous chuckle. "When we find that woman'a yours, we gon' drag her back here and take 'er every way from Sunday," he continued. "And you gon' get'ta watch the whole thing."

As Daryl let out a string of infuriated curses, followed by a few grunts of pain, Jenna finally spotted a large rock about a foot away from her. Knowing that time wasn't on her or Daryl's side, she snatched it up and stared at it for a long moment. Then, without giving it a second thought, she launched the rock at a car some ten feet in front of her. The rock made a loud clanging sound as it connected with the side of the car, which immediately brought the commotion in the campsite to an abrupt halt and drew the attention of the men holding Daryl.

"The hell was that?" the first voice, which belonged to the one named Danny, asked. Jenna tightened her grip on her shotgun even more and pressed her back against the car she was hiding behind, molding herself to it as best as she could to ensure that she stayed out of sight.

There was a second of silence before Buck, whom she had to believe was in charge, said, "I dunno…go check it out." Then he said, "Take that with ya 'case it's a corpse. Don't waste our ammo."

This was exactly what Jenna had been hoping for. Though she wasn't sure how big or strong the stranger was – or whether she'd even be able to overpower him – she still had to at least try to do something to help Daryl. So Jenna waited, being as silent and as still as she possibly could, as the one called Danny left her and Daryl's camp behind and started in her direction, slowly making his way through the cars as he searched for what had caused the noise he and his comrade had just heard.

It was a few minutes before he neared her position. Jenna held her breath as his footsteps drew closer and closer, adrenaline beginning to course through her veins like wildfire. When his footsteps came to a halt some five feet away, she slowly leaned over to peek around the front of the car blocking her from his sight. She could just make out the form of an average sized man in the darkness. His back was to her as he looked around, but she could see that he was wielding Daryl's crossbow.

"Anything?" the man's partner called to him from the camp.

When the bandit nearest to her turned to face the direction of camp again, Jenna quickly ducked back out of sight and pressed her back against the car again. There was a moment of hesitation on his part that made her heart hammer with apprehension, fearful that she had moved too slow and that he might have caught a glimpse of her from the corner of his eye. But then, to her relief, he finally called back to Buck, "Nothin'."

"Well…keep goin'," the other instructed, trying not to shout too loudly. "It might be that girl." Daryl started to say something after that – perhaps it was an attempt to warn Jenna of incoming danger – but he was quickly silenced. "You'd best keep quiet, boy!" the man instructed in a fierce hiss.

As silence fell over the road again, Danny the bandit continued on. Jenna took another look at him around the car, waited until he had walked a little further away, then stealthily began to follow him, making sure to keep to the shadows of the vehicles so that she wouldn't be seen by anyone. She tightened her grip on her shotgun and silently prayed to any God that would listen to give her the strength to pull this stunt off, because if she didn't, she and Daryl would probably both be dead by the time it was all said and done.

It wasn't until the bandit stopped to curiously peer inside a car filled with dead bodies that Jenna finally set her plan into motion. With the sneakiness of a mouse she slunk in between two cars, only feet away from the dangerous stranger now, then, after bracing herself for what was about to happen, let out a low whistle to catch his attention. The instant he whipped around in surprise Jenna was on her feet and slamming the butt of her shotgun into his face, moving so fast that he didn't even have time to react. He fell to his knees almost instantly, clutching his face with a short sound of pain. After she delivered another hard blow to his temple he finally slumped to the ground, now unconscious.

"Danny?" the man's partner called, the tone of his voice a little uncertain.

Jenna snatched up the crossbow, which was heavier than she'd anticipated, and slung it over her back. She then snagged the pistol that she'd spied tucked into the bandit's pants and shoved the handgun into the waistband of her own jeans, before ducking back into the shadows before Buck could see her. Now equipped with her shotgun and Daryl's bow, she started silently creeping her way back towards camp. It would only be a matter of time before the other bandit realized that his comrade had been taken out, which meant that the precarious predicament that Daryl was in could quickly turn from bad to worse if she didn't act fast. Once she was close to the camp again, though, she hesitated and hid behind another car, not entirely sure where to go from there since she hadn't exactly thought the plan all the way through yet.

"Danny, stop playin' around!" the other called, his voice much louder now that she was closer.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. Though she immediately felt like a fool for doing it, Jenna started to make the same groaning, gurgling sounds that a walker might make and scuffed her feet against the pavement, hoping to make the man believe that she was an incoming walker and throw him off his guard. To her ever-lasting surprise, it worked. The man cursed again, sounding irritated with this turn of events. "Goddamn walker!"

But just as Jenna set her shotgun down so that she could take Daryl's crossbow securely in her hands, about to attempt to shoot an arrow into whoever had her companion captive before he could figure out that there wasn't a walker in the area, the man let out a surprised sound. The air suddenly filled with the sounds of an ensuing struggle – Jenna hadn't expected Daryl to start fighting back but apparently he'd decided to take advantage of the man's momentary distraction. The sounds of fists connecting with flesh accompanied with loud curses and grunts of pain reached her ears, making her surge to her feet in the blink of an eye to see what was going on.

Through the darkness she could see that Daryl had managed to break free and was now fighting to gain control of a handgun that apparently belonged to Buck. The bandit, however, was larger than Daryl and was on the verge of getting the upper-hand in their spar as they stumbled around and threw punches at each other. Jenna hurried forward without anther moment of hesitation after Daryl was roughly slammed against her truck with a loud BOOM. Buck the bandit seemed to have momentarily forgotten about anything or anyone but Daryl and didn't even realize that she had come to her companion's rescue. He was just about to throw another punch at Daryl when she raised the crossbow and released an arrow, hoping and praying it wouldn't hit the wrong person by accident.

"Ahhh!" the bandit cried out as the arrow imbedded itself into his left shoulder.

Though Daryl was momentarily surprised by Jenna's sudden appearance, he recovered quickly and landed a solid punch to the man's jaw. After the man fell to the ground Daryl pounced on him, grabbed hold of the pistol he'd been fighting for, then scrambled to his feet again so he could viciously kick the bandit in the ribs a few times. Once Buck was incapacitated, Daryl, now bleeding and gasping for air to catch his breath, looked to Jenna. She thought there was a gleam of relief in his eyes now that he was seeing her alive and uninjured.

"Good timing," he panted, landing one more kick to Buck's stomach for good measure. "Where's the other one?" he then asked as the bandit rolled around on the ground, groaning in pain. Buck started to move like he was going to get up but froze when Daryl pointed the pistol he'd won right between his eyes.

"Down the road. I knocked him out," she informed him, taking a moment to backtrack and grab her shotgun again before joining him in camp. Jenna immediately passed Daryl his crossbow, which he readily accepted without ever taking his new gun off the bandit now glancing back and forth between the two of them. "You okay?" she asked, eyeing the cuts that had opened up underneath his eye and on his bottom lip.

"I'm fine," he reassured her, not too bothered with the blood trickling down his face. "Nice shootin' by the way," Daryl complimented with an approving gleam in his blue eyes.

"Thanks," Jenna said before looking down at the bandit with blatant dislike. "What're we gonna do with him?" she asked, adjusting her grip on her shotgun.

Buck paled and then immediately looked to Daryl with wide eyes, obviously wanting to know that answer as well. "Prob'ly should shoot the som'bitch," Daryl spat out threateningly, glaring at the bandit. "But reckon we all need'ta have a little conversation 'bout some things first," he added, shooting a look towards Jenna.

"Look, we don't have'ta – " Buck started to reason, whistling a very different tune now that he'd been overpowered, was weaponless, and didn't have any form of backup.

Daryl, who apparently didn't have the patience for whatever the man was about to say, shut Buck up by taking his crossbow and whacking him across the head with it. As the bandit slumped over, now unconscious, Jenna raised her eyebrows at him in silent question. Daryl just shrugged back at her. "We'll talk to 'im when he wakes up again," he said nonchalantly, not even an ounce of remorse on his face. "I got some rope in my bag," Daryl continued. "We'll tie 'em up then wait 'til their conscious'ta see if we can get some information outta them," he explained, making her nod in agreement. "I'm'a go grab that other asshole real quick 'fore he wakes up again. Think ya can handle this one if he comes to?".

"Oh yeah," she confirmed with a nod, cocking her shotgun before aiming the double-barrel directly at Buck's crotch. "One wrong move on his part and I'll turn him into a Ken doll," Jenna said in a completely serious tone.

Daryl, who didn't seem to doubt that she would do just that if she needed to, immediately smirked at her. "Atta girl," he said, slapping her on the back before turning to leave. "Keep 'n eye out while I'm gone," he called over his shoulder before jogging off down the road to collect the other bandit.


Thoughts?