A/N: Hey! Si I haven't put up a chapter in a few days but that's because my laptop broke (of fucking course) and now I have write my stories on my mac and that's going to take me a long time because my delete key is all wonked up on here and it's so fucking annoying. SO please excuse any grammar or spelling errors that may have happened because of this. Also, I was trying to figure out exactly where to go with my storyline. This chapter dives more into Kelly's character as a kid in the apocalypse, and other stuff happening later on.

Ok, now on with the story!


So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard

Every lesson forms a new scar

They never thought you'd make it this far

But turn around (turn around), oh they've surrounded you

It's a showdown (showdown) and nobody comes to save you now

But you've got something they don't

Yeah you've got something they don't

You've just gotta keep your eyes open

Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown

Everybody's watching to see the fallout

Even when you're sleeping, sleeping

Keep your ey-eyes open

-Eyes Open (Taylor Swift)


Kelly always questioned why birds chirped to each other. Why they simply just said stuff loudly or softly but it was all the same sound. She always wondered what they said. Always wondered what they did. Sometimes she wished she could be a bird when she was younger. To be able to fly far, far away from the house she lived in. She was hold Hallie as they left. They would escape together. Then again, they did when all of this went down. But she still wondered why they did such things. But she shouldn't be questioning things. She was out when the sun had barely risen, taking care of Crackers.

She leans down in the bag she had and pulls out some oats for the horse to nibble on. She knew Crackers was used to eating meat by now, but Daryl and Annie had found these in an abandoned store one day. She had been feeding them to the horse every single day since. She knew he was more prone to eating these then the endless meat they had here.

"Hey boy," she says softly to the horse. He neighs in response and trots over to her. She smiles at him, placing a hand on his nose and nuzzling it slightly. "Hey buddy. Want some food? I'm sure you're hungry," she continues. She reaches into the bag and pulls out a giant handful-well, what she could muster with her small hands-of oats and gives them to Crackers. He neighs happily and begins to chew. She smiles wider. "There you go."

While he munched away on the food, her mind traveled back to the people inside the house sleeping. Well, at least she thought they were sleeping. She hoped. It was way too early for them to be up. But that didn't stop her from replaying last nights memories in her mind. Daryl and Hallie's conversation.

She had been up when he told her that story. Once she was in the bed, her eyes had opened but made sure that neither of the people could see her. And she listened intently to the bedtime story that Daryl had told her. And she had to admit, she liked this screwed up life in fairytale form. She knew everything he said was him and Annie's adventures. She knew about the people. She knew about the torture Walt put her through. She had heard her and Daryl talk about it one day.

But even so, she had to admit that she quite liked listening to story. She knew that by now these people were her official parents. She knew it. Hallie knew it. And Kelly knew that she loved those two more then anyone in the world. And so did Kelly. And she sure as hell didn't want to lose another set of parents, and these were nice and loving. Not like her mommy and daddy before.

They had wiggled their ways into their hearts, and deep down, Kelly was afraid that they would turn out to be like her old parents, but every single time it popped up in her head she would shake it out. She didn't want to think about that. All she wanted to think about was keeping her little sister safe and her family ok, and surviving.

Surviving.

This world had been cruel to everyone. Kelly was quite the spy, and she had heard Daryl and Annie talking about the man that ran Aasim. Blake. And that he was somehow crazy and beat her, and also her friend Jill. At first she didn't believe it. He looked so sweet and gave everyone food and protection, but after listening more, she slowly started to believe it. Annie never lied.

And then she brought up Joel, and the fact that he could come and get Walt or get them or team up with him and kill them or take the zone or-she shakes her head again. Her thoughts were taking over her again. She needed to stop thinking and just focus on the horse. She looks down at her hands and realizes all the oats were gone. She smiles at the horse and pets his nose again.

"I'm guessing that was good boy? Huh?" He neighs again and Kelly laughs. "You're so cute," she mumbles, going around his side and grabbing his brush. "We haven't taken you out on a ride huh? It's been such a long time. I bet you would love to ride through the grass and the fields, right?" she asks, starting to comb his fur as a chilly wind blows through the air. Winter was coming soon. The horse neighs in response.

She looks around the area quickly and looks in the woods. Looking at the horse, back at the field, then at the house, and then back at the horse. She smiles. "Hey, wait here for a second, boy. I'll be back in a second," she says to him, running into the house. She runs up the stairs and to her room. Quietly opening the door, she walks inside and grabs the bow she had been learning how to use as well as the quiver of purple arrows Daryl had gotten for her. Then, tip toeing out of the room and back down the steps, she goes back to the backyard and runs back to the horse.

Throwing her bow over her shoulder, she climbs up on him and sets herself in a comfortable position so she could easily move him. "Ok boy, I'm new to this, so go slow, ok? We're heading to the station," she says to him, and the horse neighs in response. She pats his side and he starts to trot out of the backyard and to the street, off on her way to the station where Blake was.

Looking around as the horse walks, she notices that the sun was just starting to reach the sky, and fields of red and yellow and orange painted the sky, making it look like a beautiful painting. She had to admit, this was a sight she could get used to. The sidewalks were completely clear and there were no signs of life anywhere around her. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed this was just another town filled with infected and deserted when the world went to poop.

She looks at the end of the street and sees the small police station, looking all bad and messed up. It looked run down, but it still seemed ok enough to hold a grown man without him escaping. At least she thought that.

She gets to the station and climbs on Crackers, making sure he would stay there so he wouldn't run off. He would do that from time to time. Taking out her knife just in case, she opens up the door slowly and glances inside. Walking in, she makes sure to keep her eyes open, looking around at any sound she heard. She sees and office to her right, huge, probably had all the keys to the holding cells that spread down the hall. But she decides she would go in there later. She wanted to see Blake.

She walks to the cell he was in and leans against the wall. Sure enough, there was Blake, on the ground, passed out. She sighs and shakes her head. She really didn't like this guy after what they said he did, but at the moment he looked so defenseless. But she wasn't dumb. She may be young. And she may be seven. But she wasn't dumb. She looks around the area and sees that the hallway down the end was completely dark. Deciding to let the man sleep, she walks down, flipping on her flashlight. She couldn't believe what she was doing, all by herself, going down a hall she had no clue about, but hey, that was life now, right?

Seeing a door closed, she walks over and places her hand on the knob, slowly opening the door. And now she knew why the door was closed. There were at least five walkers in there.

Before any of them could see her, she squats down on ground and hides behind a turned over desk, taking her bow out from behind her and placing an arrow in the string. She peeks up and aims her arrow at one of the walkers heads, lets it fly, and it lands right in the center. It falls down to the ground later, and that gains the attention of the others.

They all come her way and she moves to the other side of the turned over desk before they could see her. When they are all on the other side, she quickly stabs two of them in the head with her knives. That left two.

Both turn towards her now with a vengeance, looking for her to eat. She aims another arrow quickly and shoots it into another one of the walkers heads, and then moves on to the other one, it's hands still reaching out to grab her. It was way to close for her to shoot it with her bow, and the knife would be no use at the angle she was at, so she takes a piece of wood that was laying on the ground and begins to smack the crap out of him so he would die. First his side, then his head, then his leg, then his head again, and finally she hit him enough to have his brains splatter all over the wall.

She leans back to what she just did and falls onto the floor, her hands supporting her from really hurting her bottom. Had she really just did that? Wow, she didn't even know her own strength. Looking back at the body, she was even more impressed with herself when she realizes that the walker had been twice her size. Maybe even bigger. And she killed it.

Nodding at her work, she begins to get up and go back to the horse to head home before anyone could tell she was gone, but stops when her hand feels something on the ground. She looks to her right and notices that her hand was laying on something sharp, and she lifts up her hand and glances at what it was.

Just a piece of glass. That would so no use. But then she feels more, and more, and then she finally feels the pain in her side. She looks down and gasps, only to cringe at her pain. She had fallen in glass.

"Crap!" she whispers, leaning on the table for support to stand up from the ground. "Dang it!" she growls as she begins to walk. She needed to get this patched up soon or else everyone would know she was down there. She rips off the sleeves of her shirt and takes a clothe out of her pocket and wipes up the blood slowly, and then wraps the sleeve around her small body. Looking at what she did, she sighs and starts her slow walk back to Crackers. She would get it all patched up when she got back.

When she gets back to where the cell was, she notices that Blake was up now. He had probably heard all the commotion in the room down the hall. They weren't thick halls. She looks down at the man while he groans and gets up. Kelly looks closer and sees that he had a huge bruise on his head from where Annie had hit his head. She had to chuckles at that. It was gigantic, and wasn't doing well for his situation. But Blake heard and he looks up at the little girl. He smiles sweetly at her.

"Hey, little girl," he says coming to the bars. She stands her ground where she was. She knew what he was trying to do. "How long have you been here?" he asks. She shrugs.

"A few minutes. You were sleeping." Blake nods.

"These floors aren't very comfortable. I'm sure you understand." She nods her head.

"Yeah. I've had to sleep on floors. They're not comfy," she says back to him. If anything, his smile seemed to widen. She comes to the bars and places her hands on them, leaning in. "I know that."

"Well, how about we have a bit of an agreement. You let me out, and I'll give you a great bed." She shrugs her shoulders again.

"I already have a good bed," she states. "And a great family. Are you going to do anything to them?" she asks honestly. She sees him shake his head in the dimming darkness, but she knew he was lying.

"No, I did nothing of the sort. I'm the leader here. I'm here to protect all of you. Including little girls, like yourself." He places one of his large hands on hers and she makes eye contact with him. He was lying. Thinking of a trick Annie taught her, she smiles softly at him.

"Oh," she goes on. "Well, I'm thankful for that," she adds on, placing one of her small hands on top of his. "It's really nice…" she starts, and then twists his finger in the opposite direction of where it was supposed to go. He lets out a screech. She had just broken his finger. Just like Annie did to Walt. "…that they locked you up in here," she ends, twisting it a bit more.

"Kid-"

"Don't call me that," she hisses at him. Only Annie and Daryl could call her that. "You don't touch my family, you don't touch Annie or Jill. I don't want you near them." He glares at her, yanking his finger back and holding it so it wouldn't go flimsy.

"Fuck you, kid," he replies leaning back. "You're a little miniature version of that bitch, Annie, huh? Little tiny thing. What makes you think you can beat me?" he asks. She snrots.

"Because I'm the one with the weapon. You have nothing." She goes towards the door. "If you want a battle, then the town is ready." Blake smirks at her.

"Don't worry sweetie. I'm sure there's going to be one soon enough. And all of you will be gone. In due time, kid," he says, backing back into the wall. She looks nervously at him for a moment before shaking her head for the umpteenth time and finally walks out of the police station, back to her horse.

"We need to get out of here," she mumbles to him, climbing on top. "Hiyah!" she sees to him, and Crackers gallops back to the house, Blake's words repating over and over in her head.


Annie and Daryl were near the front of the house later that day, talking about exactly where they had to go next to get supplies. Everywhere was slowly running out of food and they had to expand their sources. Hallie and Kelly were over with Ariel and all were playing some sort of running game. Maybe tag.

"Where's Jill anyway?" she mumbles to herself. The woman was probably still asleep, re-energizing from yesterdays events. She didn't blame her though. If she was going through what Jill had been going through she would e tired too. But she wasn't. She had Daryl, who literally didn't do anything to her like that at all. And she knew he loved her just as much as she did. She didn't even realize that her eyes had traveled to Daryl and she had a wide grin on her face until he looked up from the map he was staring at.

"What ya grinnin' for?" he asks, a crooked smile on his face. She smiles even wider.

"Oh, nothing. Just happy, I guess," she says to him, looking back down at the map. He was about to say something else but two people had come over to them to interrupt their small little banter. Annie looks up and sees Rick there with a gun in his hand. Her brow furrows. "What's with the gun?" she asks.

"Just went down the police station to check on Blake. Said some pretty screwed up stuff. But I think it was just because his finger was broken." Daryl raises an eyebrow.

"How the hell did he break a fucking finger? That cell is small," he says. Annie nods in agreement. Rick shrugs and sighs.

"I have no clue. But all I know is that the stuff he said could be real or not. Said there are some people looking for the zone that are bad, and that they would take over. Then again, this could all be fake." Annie looks down and gulps. That could have been Joel and all of them.

"We still need to take precautions," Daryl says. "Just in case. Make sure everyone's got the hang of a gun. Gonna need it." Rick nods.

"Already on it," he replies. He starts to walk down the porch steps but stops and turns back to the two for a moment. "A lot of people look up to you two," he starts. Annie and Daryl share a glance before turning back to the man. "Might find yourself leading this place one day. Never know," he says. That's when he walks away and walks over to his son who was about to head out.

Annie looks back at Daryl and sighs. "Do you think it's Joel?" she asks quietly. He's silent for a moment before shrugging.

"Could be, or couldn't. Could also be a load of bullshit comin' out of his mouth. But like I said, never hurts to be prepared." She nods and looks back down at the map.

"By the way, Jill and I are heading out to the local mall today to get some stuff for the kids." His head snaps up at this.

"What?!" he asks. She chuckles at his reaction. "Ya just went out yesterday and-"

"Daryl, do you feel the cold air?" she asks. He stares at her, just trying to see what she was attempting to do, but simply sighs and nods lazily. "That means winters on his way. Which means Christmas. Which means toys." He groans and places his head on the table only to bring it right back up.

"Ya are riskin' ya and Jill's lives for TOYS? REALLY ANNIE?" he whispers fiercely. She walks over to this side and smiles at him.

"Yes I am, but think about it. It'll all be worth it to see the smile on those kids faces." He still looked apprehensive. "I'll be fine, Dixon." He stares at her for another moment before leaning over and capturing her lips with his. She sighs into the kiss and places her hands on his chest. But their little intimate moment was ruined by a child's voice.

"Yuck!" they hear Hallie yell. They separate and look over at Hallie who was looking away form them. "They're kissing!" Annie laughs at this, looking back at the house while Daryl smirks at the little girl. Annie turns back to Daryl and kisses his cheek one last time.

"I'll be ok."

"Annie!" she hears. She looks over and sees Jill up and awake. Ready to go. Annie looks back at Daryl and squeezes his hand for a little bit of comfort. "I'll see you later," she says, running odd to go meet Jill.

"Ya better bring that ass back here safe," he says. She turns around and smiles at him before running off to go meet Jill. He watches her go out of sight. Man, this woman would be the death of him.

"You really love her huh?" he hears under him. He looks down and sees Kelly there, staring at his face. Daryl smiles small.

"Yeah, I do," he replies. His eyes travel to her side and his brow furrows. He could see some blood. "Kelly, what happened?" he asks. She looks down and quickly replies.

"I fell on some glass before, but I patched it up," she says. He comes down to her and lifts up her shirt to see a poorly placed bandage. He snorts.

"Didn't do a very good job," he states. "Come on, I'll patch ya up."


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