I'm a survivor
I'm not gon' give up
I'm not gon' stop
I'm gon' work harder
I'm a survivor
I'm gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin'

The water felt amazing going down her back as Annie scrubbed away the dirt and grime that littered her face and body. She hadn't had a warm shower in months. In years. She never realized she missed it so much. She just wanted to stay in the shower for the rest of her life and just cherish the warm water.

But she couldn't do that.

She was only staying for the night and then they were high tailing it out of there. But looking at the woman and the place they were staying at, they didn't seem harmless at all. Walt and Cory were just suspicious. Maybe they could somehow stay here and they could-

She shakes her head. What the fuck was she thinking? She only trusted one person and that was Daryl, and they were going to leave in the morning and get back on track to looking for his group or finding somewhere safe to stay.

She suddenly realizes Daryl never really did talk about his group. She always thought that maybe he just didn't like them, but after all this time, she knew that they had meant something to him and that he missed them a lot. And she felt bad for thinking that. And she wouldn't push him to do anything that she thinks he would be uncomfortable with. She yet again wasn't that kind of girl.

She finally gets all the soap out of her hair and turns off the water, the few water droplets falling onto her skin. She grabs a towel and rubs her hair until it's damp so she could get a brush through it and walks out of the shower, making sure the door was locked behind her so no one would come in and sneak a peak.

She looks at herself in the mirror and frowns. She was so skinny. Skinnier then she had been when all of this started. But she did realize that she had gained a small portion of weight ever since Daryl popped up. They were always catching deer together. She was expecting that. But she still didn't like the way her body looked. No one ever seemed too. That was one of the reasons why she never had any friends. She didn't have the perfect body.

She looks on the scars on her back and sighs. All the years of endless torture and pain she would receive from doing bad things at the orphanage. The only years when nothing would happen to her was when Jill was there. And when she left life only got worse. Jill was that small light in the darkness for her. Her little spark of hope that one day they could be adopted and given proper homes. But that since died out ever since she was younger. She traces one of the scars on her back that reached from the very end of her neck to the end of her spine. That had been for pranking one of the headmasters of the orphanage. And it had left a scar on her. A nice big one to remind her that life sucks and it would always suck.

She shakes her head, getting these negative thoughts out of her head, and starts to brush her hair like she didn't have a worry in the world. She started to hum 'Survivor' under her breath as she got through every single little tangle, then ended up putting it into a bun with a few loose hairs hanging. Glancing out the window, she could see that the sun was starting to go down.

She makes sure to keep her towel around her body just in case Daryl was in the room, but lucky when she stepped out he was nowhere to be seen. But the one thing that caught her attention was set of new clothes on the bed.

She walks over and examines them. Nice pair of dark blue jeans, black tank top, and grey cover-up. As well as some boots. Some good old combat boots. She had been needing new ones.

She slips off the towel and puts on the clothes, all while thinking to herself. These people seemed nice, but they seemed too nice. She felt like they were just being nice to pull them in and then they would stab them in the back later. Literally. But for now, she was just enjoying the smell of clean clothes and slightly wet hair.

Daryl looked around the perimeter of the area and bites his lip slightly. This place looked too much like the farm his group had stayed at. It reminded him way too much of Hershel. Jesus, he was still so pissed off at himself. He could have done something to prevent all of this. To prevent them from getting separated. And now it was all his fault that all of his group, his god damn family, was spread out in different directions. And now he was stuck with some stranger, still on the trail, looking for any of them that might be alive.

Well, she wasn't a stranger. Annie…was something else. She was spunky, had that fire in her eyes that told people she meant business and that you needed to do what she said or else. She wasn't afraid to tell people what she was thinking or what she thought of doing. But on the other hand she could be shy and preserved, and only keep things to herself, and just listen to all the wildlife around her and not give a damn at all if a walker was to suddenly jump out of nowhere and bite her.

And then that body…Daryl had come across many woman in his life, and many in this apocalypse, but Annie was something different. Daryl had to admit, she was skinny, skinner then she should be, and she needed to eat more meat, but she still had the body of fucking goddess. And just thinking about it made his pants a bit tighter.

But it wasn't just that. It wasn't just her being badass or her being sexy. She was just…her. She smiled and joked around. She sang and played piano. She didn't stand for his shit but went along with it half the time. She gave him empathy instead of pity. He hated when people gave him pity. He didn't deserve it. She talked about books for hours upon hours for God's sake. She was just her in her own way.

And he hated that he liked it so much. When he found her, he barely gave her a second glance. She was just some other fucking damsel in distress that he had to save. Actually he didn't. But he couldn't stand to see people treat others like that. So he saved her. And he was just going to plan on leaving her there and then, but then she walked up to him, talked to him, challenged him into saying she could prove she was worth something to him. That she would help him find his group and prove something. And took his breath away in the process of doing so. And he couldn't stand that right now she was only thing on the earth that meant something to him right now. No one else was around but her, and if he lost her, after a month of being stuck with her, he didn't know what he would do.

God, he sounded like such a sap.

"Deep thought there, brother?" he hears behind him. Daryl turns his head and sees that it was one of the men he hadn't been introduced to yet. He grunts and looks back out into the forest where they had come from, thinking of where exactly they had to go next.

"Ain't my brother," he says. The man chuckles.

"Sorry, I use that on a lot of people. Name's Joel. I'm guessin' you're Daryl?" he says. Daryl simply gives a curt nod. Joel nods as well. "Man of few words I see. Eh, doesn't matter. How you liking the place? Been here since the beginning." Daryl realizes this guy was trying to hold a conversation. He groans inwardly and decides to act like himself again.

"It's nice."

Joel nods. "These people been keeping us fed since the beginning. Nice and roomy. Plenty of space to live around here and make a life. I don't see why you want to go out and take your girl back out into the dangerous world." Daryl frowns.

"We do better by ourselves."

Joel chuckles again. "Ok, man. Whatever you say. Anyway, I'm just coming over to say that Walt wants to talk to you for a second. He's over by the barn. I gotta go check on Mark and see how he's doing," he states, starting to walk away. Daryl looks up last second.

"Who's Mark?" he asks. Joel shrugs.

"My brother. Got hurt in a hunting accident. Being treated upstairs. Go talk to Walt." And the man leaves. Daryl grumbles and glares at the ground. He would talk to Walt whenever her fucking wanted. It's not like he wanted to. Fucking asshole and Cory were looking at her like a piece of meat earlier, and the older is god damn married.

They needed to get off this farm. The sooner the better.

Annie looks through her bag and pulls out one of the books she had grabbed earlier and sits down on one of the couches in her new clothes. They were quite comfy. And the book was something she hadn't read in a while. The Hunger Games.

Book had come out the same year WALL-E did. That was a good year for her.

She loved reading about Katniss and all her adventures in the hunger games, but she never wished this would happen. Some people would wish to step into Narnia, or Hogwarts, or even the god damn Hobbit place, but no, she was happy in her little apocalypse world with her zombies instead of fighting to the death with a bunch of people her age.

"Watcha reading there?" she hears. She jumps up and places a hand on her heart, looking for the asshole that scared the shit out of her. And then see Cory looking at her with a small grin. She was half expecting Daryl to sneak up on her, but seeing Cory just pissed her off. She sends a glare at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Didn't your mama ever teach you not to sneak up on people?" she yells at him. He shrugs his shoulders.

"Didn't think it would scare you that much," he replies. She rolls her eyes and gets up from her seat.

"Well, it did." She starts to walk away but she realizes he was following her. And was doing a damn good job of it too.

"So, you and that redneck are a thing, huh?" he asks. She feels her blood boil when he calls him that, but she simply simmers down a bit so she could form a coherent sentence.

"Yes, we are," she replies simply, going down the hallway to the bathroom. But he was still following her.

"To be honest, I think someone that looks like you deserves someone a bit better then that hick," he says, grabbing her arm. Ok, that was it. She spins around, anger in her eyes.

"And who would that be?" she spits. "You? Ha! You're not even a quarter of the man that Daryl is. And I'm not surprised you don't see him like I do. Most people don't. But I love him, and there's nothing you and your scrawny little body can do about it. So fuck off!" she yells, slamming the bathroom door in his face.

She backs up into the toilet and collapses on top of it, her legs giving out beneath her. She places her head in her hands and sighs. Ok, this dude was getting on her nerves. She got that. She just needed to stay away from him. She took the book out from under her arms and began to read. This was her only way of escaping for the day.

Daryl walks over to the barn later on and sees that Walt was standing where Joel had told him, but he did see that the barn door was slightly open, and he could see a light in the back. Curiosity getting the better of him, he takes a step forward and glances into the barn. He sees a few cows and two horses, but his eyes were focused on the small door in the back that seemed to lead to another room within the barn. He walks all the way to the back and reaches out his hand to open the door and pulls it back. And his eyes widen at what he saw.

It was a room covered in blood from head to toe. There were all sorts of weapons and devices that were used to cut stuff up, and he could have sworn from the corner of his eyes that he saw a human hand on the blood table, but it could have just been something else. But either or, this place was screwed up. All of it.

"The dinner bell rang," he hears behind him. He turns around and sees Walt looking at him with no expression. "Time to eat."

"What the hell is this?" Daryl snarls.

"This is where we skin the animals we bring back from the house. Patty doesn't want all the blood and guts in the house where she makes the dinner. So we dress 'em out here." Daryl stares at the man for a second before stomping pas him. Conversation forgotten. He was not in the mood to talk to this fucker.

Annie looks around the dinner table at all the food. There was meat, and rolls, and mashed potatoes and corn… all of the things she had been yearning for since all of this began. She was waiting to dig in and eat the food and then get a good night's sleep. But she would wait for the rest of the people to come, especially Daryl. And he walks in a minute later, slamming the door behind him.

She jumps at this but smiles at him none the less. She was happy to see him. Daryl looks and puts aside his rage for a second to walk over to Annie and sit next to her, sighing as he did. She notices and leans closer.

"Are you ok?" she asks. He nods slowly, taking a sip of the water on the table.

"Yeah, just agitated I guess," he replies. She looks at him for a moment before nodding slowly and looking back at her plate.

"Oh, here we are!" Patty says, bringing in the rest of the meal. "This is a delight! It's time to dig in!" Daryl suddenly clears his throat.

"Ya mind if I use the bathroom for a bit?" he asks. Annie looks at him strangely but Patty simply waves her hands.

"Of course. It's right around the corner, darlin'" she says, gesturing the food. Daryl gets up from his seat and goes to where the bathroom was, but decides to head upstairs instead. He needed to explore this place more before he could eat.

He looks in one of the bedrooms and sees a light coming out from beneath a bookcase, and his brow furrows. He walks over slowly, as to not attract any attention from downstairs that could lead to him getting caught, and moves the bookcase. When it's moved, he sees there's a door the leads into something.

He opens the door and almost backs out the window at what he saw. There was a man on the ground with his god damn legs cut off, and he was close to death.

"What the fuck?" Daryl whispers fiercely. The man looks up and groans. "Who are ya?" Daryl asks, looking down at the man.

"M…Ma…Mark…" he replies, spitting out his blood. Daryl's eyes widened. This was Joel's brother. The one who had gotten injured. And he was down there simply just eating away at his brother? Were they really…"Don't…eat….dinner." Yup that settled it.

"This looks so good," he hears Annie say. He suddenly burst out of the room, running to get downstairs before Annie could put that meat in her mouth. And just when he saw the fork touch her lip, he stops her.

"DON'T EAT THAT!" Daryl yells at her. She immediately drops her fork and stares at him wide eyed.

"What's wrong, Daryl?" she asks, but the others interrupt her.

"What the hell is his problem," Cory mumbles to Joel. Daryl glares at him.

"My problem? I'll tell ya my problem. Mark is up there with his fucking legs CUT OFF. YA WERE ABOUT TO EAT HIM." Annie looks at her plate horrified.

"Patty is it true?" she asks the woman. The woman looks down at the table, glaring at it.

"Everything would have been just fine if you didn't go snooping around. Now we have to take care of ya'll," she says, looking at them.

"We're getting the fuck out of here right now," Daryl snarls at them. Annie stands up, but is immediately grabbed in a chokehold and pulled against Walt. "DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING TOUCH HER!" Daryl yells, aiming his crossbow at Walt's head. But Walt presses a knife into her neck, a warning sign.

"Ah, ah, another step and she bites the dust," he says. Daryl glares at him, seething with rage. They were going to kill them if he didn't fire. He looks at Annie's eyes for second, and they were filled with fear, but he somehow gave her a message that they would get out of this. He sees the small bit of hope in her eyes, the same way she had given him a month ago. And before he could place his crossbow down so Annie wouldn't get hurt, he gets his upside the head.

And he blacks out.

A/N: Sorry for leaving on a cliffhanger, but I don't regret it. :P Feedback is always really nice when it comes to stories! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!

Song Lyrics: Survivor-Destiny's Child