Chapter 2 - More Introductions

"Hey there, Chloe is it?" Her eyes shoot open and she jumps to her feet, her legs feeling like they'll give way any second. They shook beneath her as she gave the elderly man a glare.

"Chloe! It's okay, that's Hershel. He's gonna help you." Rick came to the side of the truck.

"Didn't mean to startle you." The man named Hershel said quietly.

Chloe sat down slowly and allowed Hershel to start and clean some of her wounds. She looked around for the people she knew were around somewhere. She saw them, most of them, sitting huddled together around a campfire. Her eyes landed on Daryl. The man who wanted to shoot her.

She scowled internally at him, then winced as Hershel cleaned one of the deeper cuts on her forearm.

"Who's the new girl?" Carl asked. He wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, just speaking.

"Her name's Chloe." Maggie informed "She was pretty banged up when we found her."

"How old is she?" He asked curiously, he hadn't really had anyone around his age to hang around with in a while, since sofia first went missing.

"I'd say around 18-20." Maggie estimated.

"To old for you." Lori, Carl's mother, said playfully bopping him on the nose.

"That's not what I meant." Carl says defensively, though a smirk is on his face.

"I think it's bedtime." Lori says, guiding Carl to Hershel's old Suburban Silverado, where he slept. He slept there with his parents, as well as Carol, who had already tucked in for the night.

When Lori returned to the fire, a few others had gone to bed. T-dog, Glenn, and Beth included. She sat for a while in silence with her husband, Daryl, and Maggie.

"Would you like to come by the fire?" Hershel asked Chloe softly. She nodded once and they started walking (or in her case, limping) over to the burning embers.

"So, Chloe." Rick said after a while, getting the young women to look up at him. "Where are you from?"

Chloe simply shrugged. She wasn't from anywhere. No one said anything for a minute, though everyone's eyes were on Chloe. "I'm Lori, Rick's wife." Lori said after a minute with a warm smile. It was clear to Chloe that she was trying to diffuse the tension Chloe created. Trying to assist her, Chloe smiled softly back.

"Have you been with anyone else since this started?" Rick asked, trying to squeeze even the slightest bit of information from her. Chloe nodded, not wanting to recall her short time in a nursing home in Atlanta, or where she was after that, with all the bad men. "Who?" Rick asked after a pause.

Chloe looked up at him, she was trying to tell him something, without using words. He couldn't figure out what it was though, and he doubted he would find out.

"Ya mute or somethin''?" Daryl grunted. Chloe turned to him, sneering before she shook her head. "Then talk, ya told us yer name before."

"Nursing home." She whispered, barely audible before she stood. She got to her feet a little too quickly, stumbling but catching herself on Rick's shoulder.Chloe walked back to the truck, lying down before allowing her eyes to close. She was safe, Rick seemed like a good guy, he would protect her during the night.

"What was it that she said?" Hershel asked after a minute.

"'Nursing home.'" Rick repeated. He stared at the ground before looking up at Daryl. "Do you think she means the group down in Atlanta?"

"What else would she be talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked sarcastically.

"She doesn't say much, does she?" Maggie spoke for the first time after a minute.

"Wonder why." Rick looked over at the truck where his new guest was sleeping. "Can she travel, Hershel?" He asked.

"Yeah, she'll be fine." He says. "Well I'm exhausted. Gonna catch some z's." He wandered to his vehicle.

"I'll take first watch." Daryl jumped to the task. With final goodnights, everyone got settled.

First up that morning (besides Glenn who had taken last watch) was Chloe. The sun was barely scraping the horizon as she got up from the bed of the truck, walking over to the Asian man sitting there, staring at her.

"I'm Glenn. You must be Chloe." He said with a welcoming smile, patting the ground next to him. She sat down, put not where he motioned. She, in fact, sat several feet from him and the fire place. "Morning." Glenn felt awkward, why had she sat so far from him? Did he make her nervous? God, he hoped not.

Chloe gave him a soft smile before she stood up. She stared at Glenn for a minute. Obviously he hadn't gotten the memo. She waved her hands for him to stand. He did this, placing the shotgun he'd held a few feet away. She put her arms way over her head. Glenn gave her a strange look. She rolled her eyes before bobbing her head at him, urging him to follow her movements. Glenn stuck his arms in the air. With Glenn following Chloe's movements, she got him doing absurd yoga poses, or at least trying to.

"What's going on out here?" Rick asks in a hushed whisper as to not wake the others. His voice isn't stern and he wears a smile. Glenn bursts out laughing, standing up from the downward dog position he had been in.

"I would like to know the same thing." Glenn says, still laughing.

"Dog." She giggled a little, it pleased both Rick and Glenn to see the young girl laugh.

"Any ideas for breakfast?" Rick asked Glenn.

Immediately, the Korean man's smile faded. "Not much left."

Rick's happy grin turned to a serious poker face. "We'll need to scavenge today. There should be a town a few miles East." Rick points his thumb over his shoulder in said direction.

"I can help." Ricks eyes immediately shot to Chloe, that was the first full sentence she'd said to him, besides the infamous 'I'm Chloe'.

"Y-yeah." Rick tried to act as if her speaking full sentences was normal. Maybe if he did, she'd do it more often. "When everyone's up we can be on our way outta here."

"Home base?" Chloe whispered. Rick and Glenn both wondered what made her whisper.

"We. . . we had a home base. But we're on the move now. Lookin' for a new one." Rick said at his normal volume.

"Loose friends?" Chloe pressed.

Rick simply nodded. Wow, that took a dark turn. "Chloe, did you have a home base?" His voice went soft, maybe if he was gentle, she'd tell.

Chloe's eyes went to the ground. "Bye-bye." She sighed heavily and started walking towards the woods, surrounding the road.

"Where are you going?" Glenn called, both him and Rick jogging after her. Chloe fell to the ground, covering her face with her arms and cowering into a ball. She was preparing for the blow.

"Hey, hey." Rick bent down next to her, he didn't try to remove her arms from her face. He knew that she had been prepping for pain. By the looks of it, she had been hit often. Maybe all the wounds weren't from the woods and that fall. Maybe the nursing home wasn't a good place. "W-we aren't gonna hurt you. Chloe."

"Whatcha guys do?!" A booming voice exited his tent, making all of them jump. Chloe and Rick got to their feet.

"Daryl, everything's fine. But, um, could I talk to you?" Rick reassured. Daryl nodded hesitantly and the two men walked away, while Glenn comforted Chloe.

"What?" Daryl grunted when they were out of earshot.

"Daryl, I know. . . . I know what your dad used to do to you." Rick whispered after. minute.

"And?" Daryl basically spat. Daryl didn't like talking about his childhood, or anyone's childhood really.

"And, I need you to talk to her. I need you to get through to her, what if the group she'd been with is a threat?!" Rick's voice had gone upward slightly in volume.

"She was with the goddamn nursing home! They went down, Rick!" Daryl said at the same volume as Rick.

"Daryl, the way she dropped to the ground. . . " Ricks voice lowered. "She's been abused. There are obviously survivors from the nursing home group, they've been hurting her. You, more than anyone here, know what that's like. She's just a kid. Talk to her, Daryl."

"Fine. Whatever." He slung his crossbow farther up his shoulder in frustration.

"I'm thinking she can ride with you up to town, and-"

"Hell no. I'm not being alone in my truck with her!"

"Well you're gonna be alone when you talk to her, so I just figured you'd want to do it as soon as possible. Plus, your truck is the only vehicle here she knows."

"It ain't mine, it's Otis's." Daryl snaps. Both men get quiet as they remember the man they barely knew, but who saved Carl's life.

"Otis is gone. Chloe's riding with you when we go, end of discussion. You have to get something out of her." Rick goes into leader mode. Daryl nods seriously, there's no way out of this one.

After Daryl and Chloe were alone in Daryl's truck as they started towards this town, Daryl finally got a look at Chloe. Her hair was dirty blond, similar to his, and she had emerald green eyes. There was a visible scar on the side of her face, just barely at her hairline. She was in the same clothes now as she'd been when they'd found her: light blue jeans and a gray AC DC t-shirt.

"Chloe." Daryl didn't know where to start. Maybe he'd just talk to her first, just get to know her. She looked at him from the passenger seat. "Why'd ya fall on tha groun' this mornin'?"

She just bowed her head. Not in shame, but just downward, like she didn't want to talk and she wasn't going to.

This would be harder than Daryl thought.

A/N - I know this was kind of short, but I just wanted to get it out there. Also go ahead and check out my TWD one shots! There's some story similar to this one in there, and if you like them, go right ahead and request them in the reviews section of any of my story's!