Sorry it took so long for me to update! The Chapter is a little longer than normal to make up for it.

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You guys need to check out BreenaBelle-xoxo's WD stories. They are the bomb! Also, a special thank you to her for helping me out on some decisions for the Chapter.


Princess' POV:

I walked around the edge of our camp on Hershel's farm, bored out of my mind. Movement at my feet made my eyes focus. Two black snakes were curled up under the leaves and twigs. I could tell by the scales that they weren't venomous. After locating their heads, I reached out with both hands and grabbed them right at the back of their skulls so they couldn't bite me. Both snakes hissed angrily at me. I walked back to where everyone was gathering their things before they went to look for Sophia. I walked straight over to Marcus, holding one of the snakes up high. He smiled mischievously, already catching onto my line of thought. He grabbed one of the snakes and we both ran over to Rachel who sat at the morning campfire in between T-dog and Glenn.

"Hey, Rach! Look what I found." I held the snake up to eye level as she turned around. She let out a small yell, jumping off the ground as the snake hissed in her face.

"Something wrong, Rach?" Marcus asked from behind her, holding up the other snake as she turned around. She screamed again, jumping away from it. Marcus and I laughed loudly, a few of the others in the group joining in as well. Rachel punched Marcus in the arm, which only caused him to laugh louder.

"You're such an idiot." She grumbled, shoving her glasses back up her nose before sitting back down in her place. I took a seat next to Glenn, looking at the snake I had caught with fascination.

"What're you gonna do with it now?" Glenn asked. I looked at it skeptically. It was very thick, but still probably had some meat on it.

"I'm going to eat it." I declared. Glenn looked at me skeptically. Marcus plopped down on my other side.

"Firs' you gotta kill it." Daryl told me. "An' the only real way ta kill a snake is by bitten it's head off." I look to Marcus, who seemed on the verge of laughing again.

"It's true. I'll teach you how to skin it, but first you have to make sure the head is closed all the way. Then you chomp down on it and pull the snake till you brake the bone and rip off its head." Marcus told me.

"Don't bite off the head, Princess." Rachel told me. I eyed the snake, trying to decide what I was going to do. "Marcus, now she's gonna actually do it because you told her to." She's right. I slammed the snake's head shut before biting down on it and pulling on its neck till it came loose. A few bits of blood sprayed on my face. There were groans around the group but I could hear Marcus and Daryl chuckling.

"Oh my God. I can't believe you actually did that." Marcus laughed. I shrugged before gesturing for him to do the same. "Are you crazy? I'm not biting off the head of the snake." I spit the snake's head into the fire.

"Wus." I mumbled, spitting some of the snake's blood out of my mouth. Marcus looked at me with surprised eyes. Glenn made an 'ohhhh' sound from next to me. Marcus quickly copied me, biting off the head and spitting it into the fire.

"That's it. I'm petitioning for new siblings." Rachel grumbled. An evil and hilarious idea formed in my head.

"What's wrong with snakes?" I held up the decapitated body as it continued to wiggle around despite it no longer being alive. "Does it have to do how they still move after they are dead?" Rachel squealed and ran off to help Carol with the laundry. Marcus and I high fived.

"Alright, do you have your hunting knife?" Marcus asked, pulling out his. I nodded, pulling out my own knife. "Ok, it's a lot like gutting trout. Remember how to do that?" I nodded. "Good, so just cut down the skin like so." Marcus began cutting down the middle of the snakes belly, causing the guts to start falling out. Glenn and T-dog groaned from behind me. I copied his actions on my own snake. "Alright, now we tear the scales off." Marcus began tearing off the scales and I followed suit. T-dog and Andrea moved to a different part of the camp. "And now, we cut off this tail part, and run our fingers through the middle to make the guts fall out."

"Alright, that's where I leave." Glenn said, putting his hat on my head backward as he left. I mimicked my brother as we ripped the guts out. We quickly threw them in the fire to try and make it not smell.

"Now, we just gotta cook this part." Marcus told me, holding up his own skinned snake that still wiggled around.

"Or you could eat it raw." Daryl told us. I looked at the meat for a second, questioning what it would taste like. As I brought it up to my mouth to take a bite, Marcus stopped me.

"No. Don't eat it raw unless you have to. It's too easy to get sick from it." He told me, wearing his serious face that meant I better mind him or risk getting' switched. I nodded, helping my brother attach it to a stick so we could cook it.

"Morning guys. Let's get going. We got a lot of ground to cover." Rick told us as he walked by. We got up, following him to the truck. Daryl threw a rag at us so we could wipe off our slimy and bloody hands. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'ld like to help." Jimmy spoke up as he watched us plan everything out. "I know the area pretty well and stuff." I watched Daryl as he put on a long sleeve shirt. My brow scrunched in confusion.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked the guy. Daryl caught me looking at him funny.

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you." Jimmy told us. Daryl kept cutting his eyes over to me as I still eyed him.

"Spit it out, Runt." Daryl asked, causing Marcus, Rachel, and T-dog's attention to turn to us.

"I'm just surprised is all. I didn't know you owned a shirt with sleeves." I admitted. Marcus, Rachel, and T-dog snorted in laughter. Daryl squinted his eyes at me. He gave my shoulder a small tap, causing me to bump into Marcus.

"Shut up." He grumbled, giving me a small smile. I returned a smile in full force. Marcus picked me up and sat me on the hood of the car so I could see better.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse." Shane told us.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea argued. That was just about the only thing that has every came out of her mouth that I agreed with.

"Whoever slep' in that cupboard couldn'ta been bigger than Runt over here." Daryl motioned to me as he chewed on his thumb.

"Good enough for me to go on." Marcus commented, the others nodding in agreement except Shane. Dale brought over the bag of guns.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick said hopefully.

"Aint no maybe 'bout it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her." Daryl pointed onto the map where he was going.

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too." T-dog responded. I smiled at Marcus, who gave me a knowing look.

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked skeptically.

"You guys never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." Dale tells us. Jimmy chuckles at the thought.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl asks in a dangerous tone of voice. Jimmy's smile never left his face though.

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" He asked skeptically. Daryl got a sort of cocky look on his face.

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" Daryl snapped. Touché.

"Their real. I've seen one." Rachel jumped in. Marcus and I laughed.

"No you didn't. That was a coyote." Marcus said. Rachel flipped the both of us off.

"You don't think they're real neither?" Daryl asked Marcus with an accusing tone in his voice. Marcus held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm not saying that they couldn't exist. I'm just saying I don't think she saw one, because that was also the night she discovered our cousins moonshine stash." Marcus answered. Jimmy grabbed for a shotgun.

"Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked him, taking the gun out of his grasp. Jimmy looked at him a little stunned for a second.

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Jimmy told us. Yeah, join the club Jimmy boy.

"Yeah, an' people in hell want Slurpee's." Daryl snapped at him before walking off to the barn.

"Why don't you come and train tomorrow? If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor." Shane told him.

"For now he can come with us." Andrea told Jimmy.

"He's yours to babysit then." Shane told her. Andrea didn't object as she motioned for Jimmy to join us back at the truck.

"All right, Andrea, Marcus, I want you guys to search this area. T-dog and Rachel search over here. Shane and I will search here." Rick told everyone, gesturing to the different parts of the map. "We'll put up markers of different colors on trees so we know if we have gone into each others zones. Stay safe, and stay together. Make sure you come back with plenty of day light." Marcus helped me off the truck. I quickly ran and grabbed both sticks of the now cooked snake. I ran back, managing to hand Marcus his before him, Andrea, and Jimmy walked off.

"You can't be serious about eating that are you?" Andrea asked skeptically. Marcus just shrugged as he took a large bite.

"Taste better than armadillo." He told her, spitting out the bones as he chewed. Andrea made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. Marcus leaned in close as he took the next bite, chewing loudly. Andrea groaned as she quickly walked ahead of them. I began munching on my own stick as I watched T-dog and Rachel grab their guns.

"Stay where Dale can see you." She told me, kissing the top of my head as she walked by. T-dog ruffled my hair as he passed. I looked to Dale, who was staring back at me with a smile.

"Well, young lady. Don't suppose you know any good card games?" He asked. I smiled widely at him. "Carl has some in his tent. I don't think he will mind if we borrow them." I nodded running quickly into the tent. During my searching, I found a used pregnancy test. There was a plus sign on it. I'm pretty sure that means a positive. Since this was her tent, Lori must be pregnant. I wonder if who knows? I filed the information away, putting the test back and continuing my search until I found the cards. I ran back to the RV, climbing the ladder to stay on watch with Dale.


Rachel's POV:

"So what did you do before all this?" I asked T-dog, hoping for some conversation to pass the time by.

"I was a construction worker and a deacon at my local church." He answered me. I made a surprised noise. "What's that mean?"

"I just figured you for a mechanic or car sales men or something. It's just a little surprising is all." I answered.

"What about you? What did you do?" T-dog asked, a teasing look in his eye. I smiled back at him.

"I was a Junior in high school. I played in the Marching Band, sang in Choir, did national honors society, beta club. All that fun stuff." I told him. T-dog whistled at my list.

"How old are you anyways, girl?" He asked. I scrunched my face up in thought, before turning to him.

"What month is it again?" I asked. T-dog paused mid-stride, me following suit. His handsome face scrunched up in thought.

"Man, I have no idea." He answered truthfully. We both started laughing before starting back up our walking.

"Well if this is summer time, then I'm 17 now. What about you? How old are you now, Mr. T-dog?" I teased.

"Don't call me that." He chuckled, pausing to hammer in a flag to a tree. "I'll be 29 this fall."

"What does T-dog stand for?" I asked him as we continued to walk. He gave me a sly look.

"What does Princess stand for?" He laughed at the stank eye I gave him. "It stands for Theodore Douglas."

"Theodore." I tried out the name on my tongue, liking the way it sounded. "I like it." He smiled and shook his head at me. We called out Sophia's name a few times as we walked.

"How's your arm doing?" I asked. T-dog held up his bandaged forearm, showing me the now back to normal veins.

"I'm fine. Nothing a little antibiotics couldn't fix." T-dog smirked to me. I smiled back, but then a thought occurred to me.

"What are we going to do when we run out of those?" I thought out loud. What were we going to do when Princess ran out of epipens or Benadryl? T-dog didn't answer, because we both knew the sad truth. People were going to die from simple, curable diseases.

"What happened to your family?" T-dog asked after a few minutes of silence. I sighed, thinking back to our home state.

"All got bit. I remember when it happened Marcus was at the navy base about an hour away. Princess, my father, and I were hiding in our house, all our weapons in the "safe room". It had been a few days sense the power cut out, a day and a half sense we last talked to Marcus on the phone, and six or seven hours sense we lost the radio messages. Suddenly the walkers were all around us. Father tried to make me go in the safe room with Princess, but I wasn't going to just leave him out there alone. I stayed out fighting. Dad got bit, and walkers surrounded me. I thought I was going to die and Princess, too. Either from the bite or starvation. But then suddenly Marcus was there out of nowhere to save the day, like he always is." I chuckled at the memory. "He was yelling this Indian war cry that he would use when we played as kids. We cleared the room, put them all down. Princess came out of the safe room then and walked over to our father. He was the first corpse we saw come back to life. I about had a heart attack when it happened. He was trying to bite her, but Marcus put him down, too. He told me it was fine, but I think it bothers him more than he lets on. We went into Jackson next, to all our family's houses. After finding them all dead or gone, we drove to Atlanta, hoping to find the safe haven. That's when we met you guys. What about you?" I asked.

"Most of my family had already died. Saw a few of the others get turned. There's about three that I'm unsure of, but I never could find them. I was running from Atlanta right as they fire bombed it. I had a church van full of people that I was getting out from there. Didn't know some of them from jack though. I met this old man on the way out in an RV who tells me there is a cop setting up camp by a rock quarry. The rest is history." T-dog told me before glancing at the sun. "Best start heading back. It's startin' to get dark."


Princess' POV:

I followed Glenn into the RV. He snatched his hat back off my head, chuckling at me as he did. We sat at the table, waiting for Dale.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Glenn asked me, fidgeting a little nervously. I paused in the snake's skin that I was cleaning off.

"I'm doing it." I responded, gesturing to the snakeskin that I was going to try and make a hide out of.

"I meant away from here. Like keeping Carl company or helping Lori cook?" Glenn asked.

"I already visited Carl. He's sleeping now. And I tried helping Carol and Lori, but they both told me I was just getting under foot and kicked me out." I told him. Glenn sighed as Dale walked in.

"Sorry. Just returning you book." Glenn told him as he set the book down on the table.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. If I had known the world was ending, I'd have brought better books." Dale told us. I snickered, eyeing the book collection he had. Glenn glanced at me nervously before looking back to Dale.

"Dale, you think Andrea's on her period? I'm only asking 'cause it's like all the women are acting really weird." Glenn rambled. I could see Dale looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I continued to work on my snakeskin. "And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time." Dale held up his hand to stop Glenn. After a short pause I looked up, seeing both of them glance at me.

"Don't look at me. I haven't even started having period's yet. Heck, I don't even know why I will have one. And I know Rachel had hers last week. That is the extent of my period knowledge." I told them, going back to the snakeskin.

"I'm gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself." Dale told Glenn in a hushed voice. I snorted. "Who else is acting weird?"

"Maggie." Glenn said, sitting back down. "She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have se-"

"Uh, Princess. Can you give Glenn and I some privacy, please?" Dale asked, glaring at Glenn. I sighed, leaving the skin on the table as I left. Marcus was asleep on our sleeping bags, taking an afternoon nap out of sheer boredom. I could make out T-dog and Rachel coming back in the distance. I decided to investigate the edge of the forest along the property. I raced over to the forest, basking in the shade of the trees. I climbed up a tree, sitting on a branch as I listened to the crickets. A twig breaking in the distance caused my head to snap over. I looked to see what looked like a walker, but they were carrying a crossbow. Daryl? I waited till he got nearer and sure enough it was him. I jumped down from the tree, causing Daryl to raise his bow at me. I held up my hands in surrender. I noticed his sleeves were torn off again.

"Couldn't take going the whole day with sleeves, could ya?" I teased. Daryl glared at me as he lowered his weapon.

"What are you doing out here, Runt?" He asked. I noticed his body was caked with dirt and blood, which were staining his shirt and mouth. He had a necklace made with ears around his neck and what looks like use to be his shirtsleeves now were tied over his bloody side.

"I got bored. What happened to you? Try to kiss a walker or something?" Daryl rolled his eye at me and began his stumbling walk back, not answering my questions. I got in step a few feet behind him. "Didn't you have a horse when you left?"

"Shut it." Daryl growled out. Jeez somebody's cranky. I obeyed though and followed him quietly back to the camp. As we entered the field, I heard the sound of distant yelling and footsteps running toward us. Daryl limped and walked with a lean. I glanced around him to see Shane, Glenn, T-dog, Rick, and Rachel standing in front of us, each with a weapon. They didn't seem to have noticed me yet.

"Is that Daryl?" I heard Glenn's voice ask.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl growled. No one said anything, but I could sense the relief. The sound of a gunshot went off, causing Daryl to fall to the ground. I stared with wide eyes at him. Was he dead?! I looked back at the others who were now looking at me with wide eyes. A slight pain in my left shoulder caused me to turn my head. Blood was blossoming from my sleeve as my arm flared up in pain.

"Ow?" I said confused. My acknowledgement of my own pain seemed to allow my brain to recognize all of the pain. My arm suddenly flared up in more pain than I had ever known. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." I chanted, causing everyone to finally move.

"No! No! Stop!" Rick yelled as Rachel and T-dog rushed over to me. I winced as they both inspected my arm.

"It went through both sides on her arm. She shouldn't have shrapnel damage like Carl did." T-dog said. Marcus appeared out of nowhere, scooping me up in his arms. It must have taken him a minute to get his bearings after his nap. Rick and Shane heaved Daryl up over their shoulders.

"I was kidding." Daryl groaned out. Thank God he was alive. Marcus' walking jostled my wound, but I gritted my teeth not to cry out. Marcus looked pissed beyond belief, and I'm pretty sure some of that was from the fact that I went into the forest when I wasn't supposed to.

"Oh my God. Is he dead?" Andrea asked in a worried voice as she and Dale ran over.

"Unconscious. You just grazed him." Rick told her.

"But don't worry you managed to hit Princess." Shane told her sarcastically. Her worried gaze flickered over to me.

"And this is why we didn't let you go roaming around with your gun earlier, sweetheart." Rachel snapped at Andrea as she practically murdered the blonde with her eyes.

"I-I was just trying to help." Andrea stuttered out in an apologetic voice, but Rachel seemed to be having none of that.

"No, you're just trying to get out of doing the dishes and shit by being 'one of the guys' but you lack the skills. So shut the hell up with all your whining about the guns until you get trained how to use one and learn to follow orders." Rachel yelled. T-dog's arm restrained Rachel as she leaned in, her posture practically begging to beat the shit out of Andrea.

"But look at him. What the hell happened? He's wearing ears." Glenn's panicked voice brought all our attention back to Daryl. Rick ripped the necklace off and stuffed it in his shirt.

"Let's keep that to ourselves." Rick responded. I let out a whimper of pain as Rachel tied a strip of cloth around my arm.

"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" T-dog asked, holding up Sophia's doll. We all stopped for a minute to stare.

"It's hers." I confirmed for them out loud. We walked without another word inside. Hershel walked us into a bedroom for them to lay Daryl on. Daryl came too as they were setting him down.

"His wound looks the worst and has been bleeding longer. I should probably stich him up first." Hershel told Rick.

"Nah, do the Runt first. I can wait." Daryl grunted. Hershel sighed but did what Daryl asked.

"I'll help him get out of his shirt so he'll be ready when he get's to you." Marcus told Hershel.

"Not with them in the room." Daryl growled, gesturing to Rachel and I. Rachel sighed loudly.

"Fine, I'll leave, but you better not cry while I'm gone." Rachel joked lightly, kissing me on the head as she walked by. "And you Mr. Dixon can get over Princess being in here while your shirt is off. You need to get that grime wiped off of you before they can stitch you up."

"I'm afraid that I don't have any antiseptic so this is going to pinch a little." Hershel told me. I sat next to Daryl's head, facing the headboard. As soon as the needle went through my skin, I hissed, scrunching my face in discomfort. My hand automatically reached out for the one closest to it, which happened to be Daryl's. Daryl didn't object and allowed me to cling to his hand as my brother wiped all the dirt and blood from Daryl's body. Daryl even squeezed my hand a few times when I hissed in discomfort. "All done. Here's the medicine she needs to take." Hershel said, passing Marcus the container. I slowly got off the bed and walked out the bedroom door with Marcus.


Marcus and Rachel both chewed me out in different turns for going into the forest alone until it was dinnertime. The table sat in awkward silence as we ate. Marcus, Rachel, and I were sitting at the crowded children's table with Maggie, Glenn, Beth, and Jimmy. There was hardly any space around the small table, so I was forced to sit in Marcus' lap, not that either of us really minded. The silence was deafening and awkward.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked, a smile on his face as he tried to break the awkward silence with conversation. Rachel, Marcus, and I shared a look. Marcus shook his head 'no' with gusto. "Dale found a cool one." Rachel looked pointedly at Marcus who shook his head. "Somebody's got to know how to play." Glenn reasoned. Marcus finally looked like he was caving as he opened his mouth.

"Otis did." Patricia said quietly. Marcus snapped his mouth shut. The awkwardness thickened in the room if even possible.

"Yes, and he was very good, too." Hershel told her in comfort. We went back to eating silently. My eyes caught Maggie and Glenn passing a note beneath the table. I nudged Marcus jutting my head to show him. Rachel looked as well. We all snickered quietly at the two. I finished my plate before the others, but I felt like I couldn't leave yet.

"I'm just going to go take Daryl a plate." Carol said politely as she began fixing said plate. I hopped up from the table, grabbing a glass from the kitchen and filling it with kool aid. I followed Carol silently into the room. Daryl yanked up the covers as we walked in. "How are you feeling?"

"'Bout as good as I look." Daryl groaned out as he resituated himself. I set down the glass on the side table by his food.

"I brought you some dinner. You must be starving." Carol said softly. Daryl looked at it but didn't say a word. She leaned over and gave Daryl a small kiss on his head. Daryl seemed stunned at such a kind gesture.

"Watch out, I got stitches." Daryl mumbled. Oh, God. This guy's was awful with normal human interactions.

"You need to know something. You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life." Carol said sweetly. Daryl seemed to fluster over the shower of affection she was showing him.

"I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done." Daryl grumbled, brushing the complement off.

"I know. You're every bit as good as them. Every bit." Carol told him before she walked out the door and closed it. I stayed inside the room, watching Daryl's back. After a few minutes of silence, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Well are you gonna eat or not?" I asked, causing Daryl to jump. "Do you need me to feed it to ya or something?" Daryl glared at me.

"Just bring it 'round to this side and set it on the bed." Daryl snapped. I did as he said, smiling as I did so. I watched him take the first few bites. "There! Ya happy now?" He asked, glaring at me through a mouth full of food. I nodded, still smiling. I couldn't explain the strange bond I felt to the old man. "Good. Now get. I'm tired." I walked to the door, but paused, running back and giving him a peck on the head like Carol.

"Night, Uncle Daryl." I said as I ran back to the door, quickly exiting the room.