Sorry, I just realizedit's been five days and usually I post sooner (I think), but here is the new chapter! Happy Easter and April Fool's everyone (even though I'm not playing any practical jokes). Thanks for all the favourites and follows, as well as to celia azul, angelstuffing and Guest for reviewing!

Guest: Well, you get your wish, the meetings with the group starts here, though it happens bit by bit instead of all at once:)

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Anamika skinned the rabbit she'd caught violently, her movements rough and almost ruining the meat, but she was so deep in thought she didn't notice.

Aaron hadn't come this week.

He'd come the previous week, just after he had brought that big group of survivors back to his community and she had given him a boar and sheep she had found. He said he'd come again this week, maybe even bring one of the new group with, who was apparently a lot more like her than the rest of the people in that community, but so far he hadn't shown and it was past the day he usually came.

She had been on edge the entire day, feeling like she was being watched and the amount of walkers that had 'W' carved on their forehead had increased lately. She felt like someone had moved into her neck of the woods recently and she didn't like it one bit. She wasn't getting a good vibe anymore and the woods had changed in the last week or so.

She was starting to think it was time to move on, as she trusted her instincts, but she didn't want to move on without letting Aaron know.

It was a novel and strange experience for her to actually care about what someone thought or to stay in one place in order to stay in touch with a specific person, but Aaron had quickly managed to become a good friend, and now that she had a taste of it, she didn't want to lose that connection. As she had no idea where his community was, she could only wait for him to come to her.

Today, in search of the people that had her on edge the last few days, as she believed it's better to know exactly what you're up against, she had ventured a few miles from her camp, checking out the area and following tracks that seemed fresh. It was a few hours before darkness falls however and she knew she would have to get back to her pilfered truck soon, as she would prefer to not get caught in the dark.

She was walking along, tracking a rabbit through the brush, when she caught the faint sound of the dead groaning. Her ears perked up, it sounded like a lot of them. Was there a herd in the area? If there was, she needed to know how many and what direction they were heading in, as she needed to get the hell outta dodge if they were heading in her way, Aaron or not.

Following the noise, she made sure she kept quiet and unseen, not wanting to lead the herd right to her. Soon, she could see glimpses of the dead through the trees, but there was a fence between her and them.

Just as she was about to sigh in relief and head back, she saw that they also seemed to be chasing some people. Making a split second decision, she exited the woods, but not wanting to show herself to the strangers too soon, she ran into one of the nearby buildings, running up the stairs to the second story windows. Coming up to one of the broken windows, she saw it was two people there and they were almost overrun by the dead.

Something niggled at her mind, so she swung her rifle around and peered through her scope at the second man that somehow felt familiar to her, even though she couldn't see him properly from this distance without the scope. The cold metal pressed against her cheek felt ominous as she focused her sights on the man.

Her heart seized up and got stuck in her throat as she recognized Aaron a second before he got in the car the other guy had already got into, his terrified expression imprinted on her mind.

She had to help him.

She couldn't watch a person she had slowly come to regard as a friend die, she had to save him. But that was a lot of walkers and she didn't have enough ammo on her to take them all out and it would take too long to go fetch some back at her camp.

She had just decided to screw it and go down there, fighting hand to hand with the herd, when someone else caught her attention.

A man with a long stick came running towards the car, wielding his stick comfortably and she was quite impressed with how deadly of a weapon he made it. However, she soon realised that he was going to need some help if he wanted to save her friend and his companion and she felt she'd be more use up here, where she could keep an eye on the situation, than down there on the ground where everything was chaos.

So she inhaled, aimed, exhaled and fired.

The dead coming up on the man dropped down and though he looked around some, he didn't stop making his way towards the car. She continued firing, her mind focused and sharp and soon he reached the car. The next moment Aaron and his companion poured out of the car, all three men now fighting the dead, their movements vicious and desperate, but Anamika didn't let that distract her.

Her main focus was Aaron, as she cared the most about him, but she automatically kept a close eye on the other two men as well and made sure to target any dead that came to close without them noticing or being able to fight them off.

Inhale, aim, exhale, fire.

Bullet to a dead woman's forehead.

Inhale, aim, exhale, fire.

Blood sprayed as a dead man fell back from Aaron.

Inhale, aim, exhale, fire.

Another dead joined the truly dead.

Inhale. Aim. Exhale. Fire.

Inhale. Aim. Exhale. Fire.

Her mind was almost falling into that whiteout zone, though she fought it, not sure if she would only shoot the dead if she got lost in her mind. Aaron was outside the gates now, the first to make it out, so she focused on his companion, who was the one farthest back, as it seemed he made sure Aaron got out before him. She decided to clear a path for him, her mind steady as she dropped walkers with neat shots in the middle of their heads.

Inhale, aim, exhale, fire.

WD

Adrenalin pumped through Daryl as he fought off the walkers, his knife sinking into brain after brain. Some part of him kept tabs of the walkers who dropped unexplainably, a perfect bullet wound in the middle of their heads, but he couldn't devote all of his mind to it, as he was still fighting to stay alive.

He let out a sigh of relief at seeing Aaron outside the fence, but knew he had to get there soon as well so they could close the gate. Suddenly, a walker standing in his path to get to the gate dropped from the familiar bullet wound to its head that reminded him of something, something he had seen back in Georgia.

This happened to the next walker and soon a path opened up for him and he didn't hesitate to take it, swinging the gate shut after he made it out and watching as Aaron chained it as he breathed harshly, trying to get his heart rate down.

"That was...wh...huh… Thank you." Daryl watched as the man cleaned his stick while nodding at Aaron's thank you.

"Uh, I'm Aaron, this is Daryl."

"Morgan." Something was off to Daryl, why would this man help him? He didn't necessarily feel this man was bad, but nobody helps others without some motive these days.

"Why?" He rasped, wanting to know this guy's reason.

"Why? Because all life is precious Daryl." The smile on the man's face showed that he truly believed that, that he wasn't just saying it as an excuse or to trick them, but because he really believed it. He listened as Aaron invited the man back to Alexandria, telling him about the luxuries they had, but the guy's answer had Daryl pausing.

"No thank you." Aaron seemed surprised as well, but he smiled and replied.

"You're the second person who rejected my offer that quickly."

Morgan smiled slightly.

"I'm on my way somewhere. Fact is I'm lost so, if you could tell me where we are…?" Daryl reached out to take the map the man handed over, unfolding it, only to pause as he saw the message written on it.

Sorry, I was an asshole.

Come to Washington.

The new world's gonna need Rick Grimes.

Daryl looked at the man, before looking at the map and the man again. Did this guy know Rick or did he just happen to find the map Abraham left for Rick.

"Ya know Rick?" The man's eyes widened, before he smiled.

"Yes, yes I met him in the beginning after he got out of his coma. He's my friend. In fact, I'm busy searching for him." Daryl nodded, remembering Rick had mentioned a man who had helped him in the beginning. What was the chances of him finding that man here?

"He's back at the community we're from. I was part of his group before Aaron found us, remember him mentioning you. Ya can come back with us, we'll take you to him." The man smiled and nodded and Daryl was about to start walking, before a voice calling out had him pausing, abruptly remembering the hidden shooter that had sniped the walkers.

He couldn't believe he had forgotten about the hidden shooter, they could have shot all three of them if they wanted to, seeing as they had just stood here in the open, almost asking for it. Of course, the fact that the shooter had just saved their bacon against a group of walkers kind of made it hard to believe they would kill them now, but you couldn't take anything for granted these days. Daryl cursed lowly as he gripped his crossbow tighter, ready for anything.

"Aaron!" Aaron spun around and his face lit up in a smile, bigger than Daryl had seen on him before.

"Anna!" Daryl tensed slowly, his hand tightening even further around the grip of his crossbow, his knuckles white. If what he and Rick believed was true, then this was the same woman who killed those Claimers and mutilated Gareth. Though the type of men she killed all had something in common, being that they were the worst type of humanity, it still meant that she was dangerous.

He turned, seeing Aaron hug a woman, though all he could see of her was her dark burgundy hair that was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. The sight triggered some memory in him and he narrowed his eyes as his head lowered, trying to shake the feeling of having seen her before.

Then she pulled away from Aaron and he could see her face and the numerous weapons strapped across her body and the memory hit him like a slap in the face, though it happened more than half a year ago.

"YOU!" He snarled, stalking forward, causing Aaron to whirl around in surprise and confusion, while her rifle instantly came up and was trained dead centre on his forehead. Her eyes were cold as she glared at him, something dark moving behind them, but he wasn't intimidated.

She fucking stole from his deer! He saw the exact moment she realised who he was, as her eyes cleared and her mouth twitched up, though her gun was still trained on him.

"Well well well, who would have thunk? Fancy seeing you here Katniss, you're looking good. Not still a sore loser over that foreleg are you?"

He snarled, pointing at her but not advancing, as he didn't wanna get shot.

"Tha' was my deer!"

"Yeah yeah yeah and I stole some of it. Sorry, I was hungry and didn't think one foreleg was going to make a difference to you, but it sure as hell would to me."

Daryl grunted, feeling the momentary anger leave him, as he had actually long since forgiven her. Hell, he had searched for her for almost three months after.

"Went back ta look for you after. Was always a few steps too late though." She finally lowered the gun, slinging it across her back as she smiled.

"Yeah sorry, I'm not good with people and to be fair, I thought you were still wanting to get me back for that deer, so I avoided you. Finally, I had to move on, as the food was getting scarce." Daryl nodded, remembering how difficult it had been to find supplies.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Aaron, whose head had been pinging back and forth between them like a ping pong ball, finally decided to speak up, pointing at the two of them. It was Anna who answered.

"That would be exaggerating a bit. We met briefly about six or seven months ago. I was tracking a deer, but got distracted by a herd of the dead before I could shoot it. Next thing I know, this guy here shoots it right in the eye. Now, I was hungry though, so I decided he wouldn't miss some of it, as that buck was huge. I cut off a leg before he could stop me and ran, leaving him to take the deer to keep it from the dead."

"Kept the walkers off me too, sniping them as she did now. See you're still as good with that thing as before."

Anna nodded, before a bemused expression came on her face.

"You call the dead walkers?" Daryl nodded and she seemed to think about it, before smiling.

"I like it. Well, anyways, Aaron, I'm glad you're ok, but I need to get going. It's gonna be dark soon and I wanna get back to my camp. I'm leaving the area, as something foul moved in here and it's no longer safe." Daryl perked up at hearing her speaking about the danger in the area and wondering what she knew about it.

"Wait, Anna, please won't you come back with us? I've been trying to convince you for months now and if it's no longer safe here, then please come with us. You don't have to stay if you don't want to, but just give it a chance. Daryl and his people, they're really making a change there. They're like you, told us the same stuff you told me. Besides, this way you can warn them about the danger coming."

"Aaron, you know…"

"I know, I know, you feel you can't be around people and you promised to never again join a group after your first one, but come on Anna! Please, for me, just give it a try." Anna sighed, biting her lip, before she exhaled noisily, her shoulders slumping.

"Fine. But we need to get my truck first, got some supplies there." Aaron nodded and Daryl could clearly see the joy and excitement on his face. He hugged Anna again, even though she twitched uncomfortably, laughing and telling her how Eric would be overjoyed to see her again. They started walking, all four of them, to where she said she was parked, which was about a twenty minute walk. Daryl and Aaron was parked about a two hour walk from there, so they would fetch her truck and then their cars. They soon reached her truck and Daryl looked in the back, seeing a few scattered supplies, but nothing amazing.

"This what ya wanted to come back for?"

"Naw, this is just my run truck. My supply truck is about a fifteen minute drive from here, so after we get your cars, we'll go pick that up."

Daryl nodded and they all piled in the back, with Daryl in the front with her as he directed them back to his bike and Aaron's car. When they reached it, he got on his bike and Aaron and Morgan got in the car and then they all followed her back to her camp.

After a short five minute drive, she turned down a small winding road filled with leaves and almost overtaken by the woods and soon she seemed to park in the middle of nowhere. Daryl was about to question her sanity or suspect a trap when he spied the cleverly hidden cafe, his eyes narrowing.

He saw her smiling as she realised he had seen what she had all those months ago and he scoffed at Aaron's gasp of amazement as she seemingly disappeared into the rock face covered in foliage.

Soon he could hear an engine and a massive military truck drove out. However, this one seemed to be tampered with and reinforced, as someone had cleverly welded metal walls where the cloth cover was usually, making it a mixture of a typical military truck and a van.

When she parked and jumped out, she unlocked the back doors, before transferring the few supplies from her other truck over to the new one. Curious, Daryl wandered over and felt his breath exhale harshly and his eyes widened slightly.

The amount of supplies that was packed in the back of this truck… Fuck, there was food, guns, weapons, basic necessities, it was a fucking goldmine.

"You gather all this?" he asked and she smiled.

"I've been lucky I guess."

"Huh." He nodded, shaking his head in amazement as she closed the back and made her way to the driver's seat while he went back to his bike. It was about an hour back home and he wanted to get back as soon as possible, especially since night was approaching.

Rick would want to see Morgan and meet Anna and he knew that though his brother would be cautious, he would want Anna to stay, as she had the skills they needed to protect Alexandria.

As Daryl drove back, he also secretly hoped Anna would stay at Alexandria, though he would never admit it to anyone.

WD

Yay, Daryl and Anamika finally met! Sorry that it wasn't super dramatic or a very dialogue-heavy chapter, but I didn't feel like they'd be the type of people to meet and immediately start chatting, if you know what I mean. I thought about a lot of different ways for them to meet and finally decided I liked this part, because of what follows and I admit, I didn't want to deal with Alexandria before Deanna's awakening. In fact, I think Anamika would have just abandoned them if she arrived before the tribunal. So, I hope you guys liked it, let me know!