Only he doesn't.

The scream tears from my throat before I have the chance to process what I'm seeing. Out of nowhere it seems, a large figure comes barrelling at Daryl, tackling him, pushing him to safety. Well, near safety. As Daryl and the stranger grapple to untangle themselves, I run over to the side of the pit where they've landed. Using Daryl's crossbow, I start killing the walkers reaching out for them, driving them further away. All the while, Daryl and the stranger fight to get away from the edge of the pit.

"Gerroff!" Daryl snarls, fighting not just the walkers, but the stranger who saved his life.

"Daryl!" I call out, reaching for him, as he struggles to shrug me off as well. "Calm down! It's okay!" I grab him by the shoulders and face him to me. "It's okay!" I repeat.

Daryl just looks from me, to the pit, to the stranger, and back to me. He's breathing heavily as he takes in his surroundings and slowly it starts to register on him that he's no longer in dire danger. Daryl grabs me and pulls me in close for a hug, his breathing too ragged for words.

"No need to thank me!" the stranger jokes. "I was just in the neighbourhood, going for a friendly stroll. It's all good! Yep, no problems here!" He chuckles and just dusts himself off. He reaches a hand out to help Daryl up. "The name's Hutch!"

Daryl glares at the hand for a moment before nodding and grabbing on. "Thanks," he says, before turning back to help me.

As Daryl helps me back to my feet, I stop to take my first good look at the stranger, Hutch. He's an older gentleman, with greying hair, but somehow still conveys an air of youthfulness and vitality. He's about Daryl's height, but the way he holds himself makes him seem larger. He carries himself with a confidence not seen by many nowadays. I don't know much, but I'd say he was ex-military or law-enforcement. He's in surprisingly good shape considering his age and our circumstances.

"Yep, you've got to be careful around these parts." Hutch says. "Got a lot of them pits around here."

"Yeah? You don't say." Daryl replies.

"Yep." Hutch looks around, then back at us. "Just you two?"

"Yes," I start to say, before I'm quickly cut off by Daryl.

"Nah, we've gots people waitin' for us back home."

"Oh? And where's that?" Hutch asks.

"I ain't tellin' you!" Daryl snarls. I quickly approach Daryl, and put a hand on his arm, signaling him to back down. This man saved Daryl's life!

Hutch just laughs. "It's all cool, I don't blame you. Lot of sketchy people out there. Look, it's almost dark, and there's lots of space and not many people where I'm from, so if you want to bunk with us for the night, you're more than welcome. We're always happy for newcomers. But if not, I understand."

I look at Daryl and cock my head. Newcomers? Maybe some people from the prison have crossed paths with Hutch, and are with him now. Maybe even the people we've been trying to track!

Hutch sees me and Daryl looking at each other. "I've got to take a leak, so I'll just be over here behind these trees. If y'all want to talk or whatever." And with that, Hutch leaves us alone.

"What do you think Daryl?" I ask. "Think anyone from the prison might be there?"

"I dunno," he replies, "But I don't like this."

"You don't trust Hutch?" I say.

"Do you?" Daryl retorts.

I stop and think of what I know. There are a lot of bad people out there, but there are still a lot of good. "He saved your life. He could've just let you fall into the pit, but he didn't. It was far riskier for him to attempt to save you than to not." Daryl grunts in agreement, but doesn't seem convinced. I want to believe the best in people, but after the Governor, I can see Daryl's point. Still, I'm not ready to give up. "He might have seen our people! The very people we're trying to find could be with him! And if his set-up is as good as he says it is, we could use the resources. There's safety in numbers!"

"There's safety in you!" Daryls hisses at me. "I'm safe, you're safe… ain't that good enough? Why do you need more?" Daryl almost sounds rejected.

"I don't. I just… don't you want to find the others? This could be our best chance!"

"Our best chance at gettin' killed!"

"Why do you have to be so cynical? Why can't you just believe that there are other people out there like us?"

"There ain't no one like you!" The silence between us is almost palpable. "I just mean, I can't have you riskin' your life on a whim. We should stick with what we know. Not everyone is kind like you."

Stick with what we know… "We know tracking." I say slowly, an idea starting to form. "What if we track Hutch? Follow him back to his place? Watch him from a distance and see what's going on?"

Daryl contemplates what I've said. "And what about them tracks from the cottage?"

I shrug. "What about them?"

"The trail will be long gone if we take this detour."

I sigh. "The trail's already long gone for me. I haven't been able to see anything for the past hour. I've just been following you."

Daryl smiles. "Aha, so you ain't a master yet? Still just a young grasshopper?"

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don't you?" But I'm smiling. "If you've still got the trail, then it's your call."

"Yeah, I've still got it." he says, "But barely. Let's see where it heads and if we lose it, then we can go followin' ol' Hutch here."

"Deal!" I say.

At that moment, Hutch came back. "So kids, what's it gonna be?"

I look at Daryl and cock an eyebrow. Kids? Ha! I would've never thought of Daryl as a kid.

"No thanks," Daryl replies. "'twas nice of you to invite us, but we've gotta get goin'."

Hutch nods. "Alright, I understand. You just be careful out there. It's getting dark, and there are plenty more pits than just the one."

"Duly noted." Daryl says.

"Bye!" I call out cheerfully, waving at Hutch's retreating back. Hutch just waves without turning around. I watch as he retreats into the woods, his form growing smaller and smaller, til I can't see it anymore. "Alright then," I say, turning towards Daryl. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, we shall." he replies mockingly.

Picking up our things, we continue on our way. Just before we leave, I turn back towards the pit, where I can still see the army bag. It lies there alone, lost in the sea of walkers. The walkers continue to writhe, oblivious of the bag or any disturbance that had happened earlier. I stand there a moment, looking at the bag, and it sinks in how much I've lost and how close I came to losing what I have left.

Catching up with Daryl, who has already started walking away, I say, "wait".

Daryl stops and turns towards me. "What? You ain't change your mind 'bout something, have you?"

Without thinking, I reach forward and hug Daryl. "I'm so sorry." And at that, I start sobbing.

"Hey, hey," Daryl says, holding me close and patting my head. "What's all this nonsense 'bout?"

"You almost died!" I shout, stepping back to smack him on the chest. "Or did you forget about that?"

Daryl takes a sharp breath in. "No," he whispers. "I hadn't even thought about that."

"Well I did! Just now! And it would've been all my fault!" Now that I've started, I can't stop crying.

Daryl just grabs me and pulls me back towards him. "'s alright." he murmurs. "Better me than you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I cry.

"Shh, shh." is all I get in return.

"No Daryl, it's not alright. I-I-I couldn't live without you!"

Daryl smiles. "Yeah, you could. You're strong. Don't you ever forget that."

I just cling to him harder. "Yeah, but I wouldn't want to!"

And through my sobs, I swear I hear Daryl murmur into my hair, "Me neither."

[Author's Note: Woot! I forgot that November was NaNoWriMo, so I'll be busy trying to do that. I don't think it'll disrupt this story too much though!]