Don't fret precious I'm here.
Step away from the window.
Go back to sleep

Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,

See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do.

I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons

I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason

I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices son

They're one in the same, I must isolate you…
Isolate and save you from yourself …

(A Perfect Circle- Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drum)

Mia woke the next morning still feeling groggy and tired. She rolled onto her side and checked her watch for the time. Exactly five am. She sighed, unwillingly pulling herself out from her sleeping bag and got up. When she gave herself a little time to wake and get herself together she perked up remembering why she was up so early in the first place.

She was going hunting with Daryl. On her own.

As she was getting ready she decided to wear a grey low cut, long sleeved top and pair of denim shorts along with her usual boots. She tied her hair in a messy bun before grabbing her bag and packing her gun and knife. She hoped to god she wouldn't need them but she was always prepared.

As she quietly crept out of her tent afraid to wake anyone, she looked up to the top of the RV to see who was on watch. "Shit." She thought. It was Glenn. This was all she needed. She knew he wouldn't be happy about this. She thought she could have left without him knowing and explained herself later when she got back but that didn't look possible now as he glared at her almost burning a hole through her head. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Daryl exiting his tent with his crossbow, nodding at her signaling he was ready to go.

Glenn however, rushed down from the RV as she quickly tried to get to Daryl's tent. "Mia, what the hell are you doing?" He whispered grabbing her arm and spinning her around.

"I'm ugh… going hunting." She admitted lowering her head. There was really no point in lying now. Hell she couldn't think of an excuse anyway. She was doomed.

"Hunting?..." Glenn asked before he saw Daryl standing waiting for Mia. Glenn's eyes widened. "With him? You're going with him?" He said in shock.

"What's the big deal Glenn? I'll be fine." She told him going to leave again. She really didn't want to deal with him right now, not when Daryl was already waiting for her.

"Mia, this is crazy. I don't want you to go. You're going to get hurt." Glenn said clearly worried about his friend's safety.

"Glenn you have to stop this." Mia pleaded as Glenn raised an eyebrow.

"Stop what? Stop worrying about you? I can't do that." He explained.

"You have to stop being so damn overprotective. This is the world we live in now. We have to take risks to survive." She said going to leave once more but Glenn caught her hand again.

"I don't know what kind of hold this guy has over you but this isn't a risk you need to take." Glenn argued.

"He doesn't have a hold over me. I asked him to take me! I'm going whether you want me to or not Glenn." Mia argued back. She couldn't believe her friend was giving her such a hard time. Who was he to accuse Daryl of having some hold on her?

"Mia please…" He pleaded again. "Glenn stop. I'm going. You can't stop me and nothing will change my mind." She stated as Daryl walked towards them, his crossbow swinging around his back.

Glenn rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You ready?" Daryl asked ignoring Glenn and looking straight at Mia. Mia nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." She said walking away. But before Daryl could walk anywhere Glenn spoke. "If anything happens to her I swear to god I…"

"You'll what? Go Jackie Chan on ma ass? I'd like to see that." Daryl sneered walking away catching up with Mia.

Glenn sighed heavily before taking his place back on top of the RV. As much as he loved Mia, he sure hated her stubbornness. He was convinced it would eventually get her killed and there wouldn't be anything he could do about it.

"Not sure yer wearin' the right attire for huntin' princess. You gonna get yer legs tore off from trees an bushes y'know." Daryl admitted, as he looked her up and down.

Mia shrugged. "If a couple of scratches is the worst thing that happens to me today I'll consider it a success." She said smiling at him as they made their way into the woods.

"Aight, s'your funeral princess." Daryl stated. It was nothing to him if she didn't want to protect herself.

"Would you stop calling me that?" She asked rolling her eyes.

"Suits ya though. Got that long ass blonde hair and bratty attitude." He sneered, earing him a long glare from Mia.

"I don't have a bratty attitude asshole." She said as they continued to walk.

"Ok you don't have a bratty attitude… brat." He whispered.

"Oh fuck you." She said walking further into the woods.

"Hey you might wanna watch yer words with me. I'm doin' you the favour after all." He stated knowing he was annoying her. She sighed giving in. "Ok, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." He grinned.

"Your turn." She said looking at him.

"Ma turn for what?" He asked chuckling.

"Apologizing?"

"Ain't got nothin' to apologize for princess." Darly said as Mia shook her head and sneered.

"Ugh you know what I'm not even arguing with you. Just teach me how to hunt." She asked as he chuckled.

"Sure thing princess." Daryl said as Mia bit her tongue. This was going to be a long morning.

A few hours later Daryl had thought Mia the basics about hunting and tracking all in theory of course. Mia was a quick learner and Daryl could tell that with a few more lessons she wouldn't be half bad at tracking. Although she still had a long way to go.

"How am I doing?" She asked quite pleased that his answer would be positive.

"You wouldn't be half bad if you had any damn sense of direction." He confessed. Now he understood how she got lost from Glenn. The chick had no idea which way she was going.

"Ugh shut up, we're in the woods! Everything looks the same!" She said defending herself.

"Well you ain't gonna do shit with huntin' skills if you don't know where yer goin'" He admitted. Just as she was about to argue with him again Daryl spotted a dear not too far away.

"Shhh." He said putting one finger to her mouth and pointed his other hand to show her the deer. Her eyes widened when she saw it. It was so beautiful, so innocent but she knew what needed to be done. In order for the group to survive these things had to be done. As Daryl raised his crossbow to aim it at the deer, Mia put her hand on it.

"Can I?" She asked as Daryl lowered his crossbow.

"Better not miss." He growled as he handed her the crossbow. She grabbed the crossbow realizing it was a little heavier than it originally looked but not as heavy as the damn rifle. Catching her breath for a moment she aimed the crossbow at the deer closing one eye before pulling the small trigger. The arrow was quickly released and stuck into the side of the deer piercing it as the animal fell to the floor.

"Well I'll be damned." Daryl said in amazement.

"Did you see that?" She asked proudly putting a hand on her hip.

"Good one princess. Didn't think ya had it in ya." He said heading for the deer.

"Clean shot too. Dead on impact." He said as he inspected the deer. Mia walked to meet him handing Daryl back his crossbow. "Knew you underestimated me Dixon." She grinned before turning her attention to the deer. She crawled to the floor and rubbed the deer's head.

"I'm sorry boy. I just saved you from a world of pain. At least you weren't torn apart by…"

"Walkers." Daryl interrupted.

"Yeah." Mia said frowning before Daryl grabbed her arm.

"No walkers." He pointed as Mia looked up to see five walkers coming straight for them.

"Oh fuck." She whispered. "Time to go." He said taking her by the hand to drag her away.

"No. We can't run. What if they get back to the camp? That's on us Daryl." She stated as he sighed.

"I'll take em. You go back. Follow the path we made." He demanded pushing her forwards. But she wasn't moving.

"I'm not going anywhere without you. That wasn't the deal." She stated turning to him.

"I can handle it." He growled. "So can I!" She fought back before taking her knife and gun from her bag. She knew she was too close to camp to use the gun, she didn't want to attract more of them but she stuck the gun into her back pocket in case things got bad.

Daryl loaded his crossbow as they hid behind a tree to prepare themselves. He looked at her with concern in his eyes. But he could see no concern in hers. There was no fear or emotion just something that seemed to be pure adrenaline.

"Ready?" He asked as she nodded with a smile. "This is the part I'm good at." She said confidently before stepping out from behind the tree. This were her time to prove herself to him. That she wasn't the little Barbie she knew he thought she was.

"Stay with me." He demanded as she looked at him. "Too many of them. Better to split a little." She said running off from him before he had any time to change her mind. "Fuck!" He whispered, this girl was gonna get herself killed.

As Mia ran it wasn't long before two of the walkers were hot on her tail as Daryl dealt with the other three, quickly shooting one in the head with an arrow. Mia ran towards a thick tree branch jumping up to swing herself from it as the walkers gained on her. Pushing her body hard she used all her leg strength to swing herself high and fast enough to kick one of the walkers to the ground while she dealt with the other. Dropping back down from the tree branch she grabbed her knife and stuck it straight into the walkers head before dealing with the other. As the walker attempted to get up from the ground Mia placed her boot hard down onto the walkers throat before stabbing it in the head with her knife three times.

She looked to find Daryl but couldn't see him anywhere.

Daryl still had two walkers to deal with but realized he only had one arrow left. Thinking fast he quickly shot one in the head with an arrow before going to take on the other. He dropped his crossbow and searched for his knife as the walker drew closer. But suddenly the walker growled as a knife was flung straight into the back of its head and fell to the floor. He looked straight ahead seeing Mia standing far enough away from him. Had she thrown the knife from that distance? Where the hell had she learned that? He thought.

She knew she wouldn't have reached the walker on time had she not thrown the knife and she was confident she wouldn't miss. "I guess we're even now." She said swiping the knife out of the walkers head.

"Even?" He asked raising an eyebrow as he collected his own arrows.

"I did just save your ass." She grinned.

"I had that." He said defending himself. Mia laughed. "Sure you did."

They walked back to the deer, inspecting it for bites but found none. When Daryl cleared it, he picked it up placing it over his shoulders and began heading back to camp. The journey seemed to go so fast as Mia was still pumped with adrenaline. The fact that Daryl had said nothing to her showed her that she had impressed him. He was clearly second guessing his impression of her now.

As the got to the outskirts of the camp he dropped the dear. "Aight where'd you learn to fight like that? That wasn't just adrenaline, that was some serious skill." He admitted crossing his arms. She grinned at his sudden interest in her.

"There's a lot you don't know about me. You really should stop underestimating me you know." She said moving closer to him. She didn't know if it was the adrenaline in her body or her own primal instinct but she was feeling something.

Lust.

"Yeah I'm startin' to think I should." Daryl said deciding not to back away from her. Whatever she was feeling, he seemed to be feeling it too.

"Damn right you should" She whispered as her hands tugged at the end of his shirt pulling him closer to her. He didn't know what was happening, this girl had him in a little trance and he was allowing it. She looked at him with fire in her eyes as she drew her lips closer to his.

"Well shit if it ain't ma baby brotha!" The voice of a southern man spoke, taking Daryl away from any other thought he had. Mia looked into the center of the camp seeing a tall unfamiliar man but she knew who it was.

Merle.

BAM! There he is! That's a wrap on chapter 10 everybody! Shit is about to get real! Soon enough I'll be able to follow the story throught the tv series. So excited about this. So Merle has finally reached the camp just as Mia and Daryl were getting close! What's everyone thinking so far? Where did Mia learn to fight? We'll have to wait and see! I'm enjoying this story so much right now. It's so fun to write. What does everyone want to see happen now? Anything in particular? Please let me know your feelings and thoughts. Thank you to everyone who have followed and faved the story so far, you guys rule! X

Thank you to A Perfect Circle for being my muse during most of this chapter. Your music has helped me so much throughout this chapter! 3 I did not write those lyrics all credit belongs to them.