Another day, another chapter. Please enjoy!

Updated- 4-20-2020

- Daryl's POV-

"Go take this the wrong way. You knew who I was with every step that I ran to you. Only blue or black days, electing strange perfections is in any stranger I choose."- Someone New, Hozier

I slung my bow over my shoulder, grumbling to myself. Another day of searching, another day of coming up empty handed. It had been days since Sophia had disappeared. And yes, I knew, I knew that the odds of us finding her were getting smaller and smaller every day. Believe me, Officer Asshat never let me forget about that. But I wasn't about to give up on her. Not yet.

I needed to find this girl, I just had to. These people may have been okay leaving my brother chained to a roof, but there was no way in hell I was leaving someone behind, let alone a little girl.

I trudged out of the woods, my boots covered in mud, mentally preparing myself to have to deal with the worst part about being in a group of people- the people. Don't get me wrong, a few of the group were okay. Carl, Glenn, Carol, Maggie, and hell, even Rick, were all pretty decent. But some of the others were completely intolerable in my opinion. I'd rather be on my own than stuck with Shane or Lori. I shuddered at the mere thought of that duo and kept walking.

The camp was bustling with life, as it always was. Dale sat on top of the RV, binoculars hanging around his neck, rifle in his lap, keeping watch on the horizon. Carol was hanging clothes to dry out in the sun and Lori was beside her, washing dirty clothes in a bucket of soapy water. Hershel's younger daughter, I was fairly certain her name was Beth, was feeding the horses, with the help of Patricia. Officer Friendly and Officer Asshat were nowhere to be seen. Probably arguing about something again, I thought, rolling my eyes. Everyone else was scattered about away from the camp, probably taking care of the tasks that needed to be done. Although we had only been here for a little over a week, we had adjusted to life on the farm quite quickly.

What worried me was the fact that Carl was almost healed. Don't get me wrong. I was glad the kid was okay, but I knew deep down that the only reason we were still here was because Hershel wouldn't let us leave while the boy was still hurt. But what was going to happen in a few days? Was the old man gonna kick let us stay, or were we going to have to move out again?

It was times like this that I wished that I was alone. Having a group, although I knew it gave me better odds, was sometimes more of a hassle than I was willing to deal with. If it was just me, I would have no problem moving around, jumping from place to place. My entire life had prepared me to live like this. As long as I had my bow, I would be fine.

But the others? Man, some of them would be dead in a few days.

I shook my head and let out a long breath. I wasn't in the mood to deal with most of them right now, so I decided that now would be a good time to clean my kills. Adjusting my bow in my hands, I turned towards the well. I would fill up my canteen, and then go down the hill to skin my squirrels.

I saw a flash of blonde hair next to the well as I walked towards it. Andrea, I thought. I sucked in a breath, preparing myself to deal with the woman's attitude. There was always some kind of stick up her ass. I usually went out of my way to avoid her, but I usually enjoyed it a little when she went off on other people. I just got a kick out of seeing her all pissy, like a teenage girl throwing a tantrum. The chick was hot, but she was a bag of cats. She practically radiated "crazy bitch."

I said nothing in acknowledgment to her when I arrived at the well, but she did look up at me. I waited for her to whine about something, so I was surprised when no words came. I turned my head to look over at her, and I stepped back in alarm.

This woman was not Andrea.

I grabbed my bow, loading an arrow and aiming it at her head before the woman even had a chance to move. "Who the hell are you?" I hissed, staring her down with narrowed eyes, my voice low and threatening.

My tone seemed to have no affect on her, as she just simply stared back at me, her expression blank and cold, like she didn't really even care that I had a crossbow pointed at her head. She just looked me up and down, her arms crossed at her chest. I quickly looked her up and down, trying to get a read on her.

She was fairly young, probably in her early 20s, with long blonde hair and dark blue eyes, emphasized by dark purple bags underneath. There were dark bruises along her hairline, a small scar rested on her upper lip, and a long scar cut across the left side of her face, reaching from her eyebrow to her chin. She wore black cargo pants and a dark gray tank top. Although I could tell that she was very muscular, she was very short, making her appear less than threatening. She stood there in silence.

"I said who the hell are you?" I got closer, gripping my bow a little more tightly. She looked at the bow, then back at me. She still didn't seem all that put off, which somehow just managed to piss me off more. Most people were at least a little spooked when there was a man pointing a crossbow at them. Finally, she sighed and opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by someone running over. It was Maggie, one of the only tolerable people in this goddamn place.

"Hey Nicole. I was lookin for ya!" She smiled at the mystery girl as she finally reached the well. She then turned and looked at me, obviously just realizing my presence. Her eyes went wide when she saw my crossbow aimed at the woman. "Woah. Woah. There's no need for that!" She put her hands up, using one to gently push the bow down.

"Ya know this girl?" I asked, hesitantly lowering my bow, only slightly. My eyes flicked between Maggie and the blonde, who still had yet to move.

"Yes, in fact I do. Daryl, this is Nicole." She gestured to the woman. Nicole gave me a small nod as Maggie turned back to me. "Glenn and I met her in town. She saved our lives, kicked some ass." She sent Nicole a small grin of gratitude, which she acknowledged with a small shrug, her face unchanging.

I grunted, rolling my eyes. "And you thought it was a good idea to bring a stranger back? What will Rick say when he finds out? More importantly, what will Shane do?" I knew Shane. Officer Asshat was hot-headed and stubborn, even more than I was. Anyone who threatened his life in any way, he would sooner cut them loose than take them in. And I was not about to deal with that.

"Number 1, Dixon, this is not Rick's farm, or Shane's. It's my family's. It's my father's. And we have final say on who lives here." Maggie snapped, getting a little closer to me. I looked at her, slightly taken aback at her tone. She was usually a pretty calm girl, and I had never actually spoken to her one on one. She usually only talked to her family, or to Glenn. This was a whole new side of the cowgirl. I schooled my expression quickly, however, as I didn't want this 'Nicole' to see me falter.

"And, as for Shane, I'm pretty sure he's okay with her being here." She added, her tone a little lighter now.

"And why the hell would that be?" I raised my bow a little more, keeping it fixed on Nicole, who seemed unfazed by this whole encounter. I had to admit, as much as it was pissing me off, this girl had some balls. I stared at her, wondering why Shane would be so fine with her presence.

And then it all made sense. This chick. She was young, fit, and objectively attractive. I knew that Lori and Shane had been shacking up early on, before Rick had turned up at the quarry. Ever since then, the man had been tense and touchy as hell. Any little thing could set him off. The man was probably itching for something, something he wasn't getting from Lori anymore, and there was no way he was going to get it from any of the other women in the group.

Shane wants a new fuck buddy. That's why she's here.

"She's his sister." Maggie said, breaking through my thoughts.

Wait… what?

Well, I hadn't been expecting that.

I looked back and forth, between Maggie and the woman, wrapping my mind around the information. Shane's sister? Was she serious? Slowly, I lowered my bow, taking the arrow out, but still keeping an eye on Nicole. Upon inspection, she didn't look anything like her bullheaded brother, but that didn't mean anything.

"Really?" I cocked an eyebrow, carefully pulling my bow over my shoulder. "Lord help us all." I chuckled painfully, groaning internally. The last thing we needed was another Walsh running around this camp. I looked at her again. She still stood there, her arms folded over her chest, her eyes blank, the same position she had been in since I had come over. She still hadn't said a word.

Maggie ignored my comment, though I saw a small eye roll, and she turned her attention towards Nicole instead. "Carl's awake. That's why I came to get you. Figured you could surprise him." She said happily. Nicole nodded, giving a small smile, the first ounce of emotion she had shown so far. Shooting one more calculating glance in my direction, Nicole walked off towards the house without so much as on word, patting Maggie's shoulder as she walked by.

"Is that chick mute or somethin'?" I grumbled, watching her walk away. "What the hell is her problem?" I turned to Maggie, who was watching me with curious green eyes.

"You always make quite the first impression, don't ya' Dixon?" Maggie smirked before turning and following Nicole towards the house. I just stood there, a little wary, trying to process what had just happened.

That girl. There was something off about her. Something about the way she stood there silently, about how she looked right at my bow without flinching, or the way she held herself steady. It made her seem like she knew something you didn't, that she had done something she shouldn't have, like she had been in that situation before. I had known people like that in my old life. Hell, I was one of those people. And if there was something true about people like that- they can't be trusted, not without proof.

I didn't care if she was Shane's sister, Carl's friend, Maggie's friend. Hell, she could have been a damn angel sent from heaven to save us all.

Nicole Walsh was going to have to earn my trust, one way or another.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"And I thought you were a weapons junky." I heard Rick chuckle from up the hill. I had been skinning squirrels down by the woods for the past hour or so. I used to do it by the camp, but apparently Andrea found it unsavory, so I had relocated to the tree line. Laying my squirrels down in the bucket we used for stewing, I walked up the hill. Even though I had attempted to occupy myself, my encounter with Nicole was still fresh in my mind.

"I am." I heard Shane answer. When I reached the top, I saw that the two were standing next to the worn picnic table we had placed next to the fire pit, looking at something on the top. I was curious, so I put my bucket down by the fire before joining them.

"What's goin- Holy shit." I muttered, my jaw going slack when I saw what was on the table. Looking down, I saw what they were examining. It was a blue duffel bag, full of weapons.

I mean full.

On top there were two AK-47s, a few more guns, four smaller handguns, dozens of cases of ammo, an axe that looked as if it had seen a lot of action, and enough knives to stock a giant steakhouse. This wasn't just a collection of spare weapons that we had lying around. This was an arsenal, and a pretty damn impressive one at that.

"Where the hell did ya find this?"

"It's Nicole's." Rick said quietly, his eyes still wide in awe. I stopped staring, turning towards him.

"What?" I looked at him incredulously. These all belonged to that tiny girl? "Where the hell did she get them?"

"Yeah. That's what we want to know too." Shane answered this time, his hand running over the AK-47 greedily, like he was about to take it. "I'll have to ask her about it later."

We admired the weapons for a little longer before I broke the silence. My mind was flying in a million different directions. "Where's the rest of her group?" I asked the obvious question, feeling myself tense a little. If she was this armed, I was a little apprehensive to see what the rest of her group was like. Meeting them on a dark night wouldn't be the best thing. "Because if they're all armed like this…"

"She doesn't have one." Rick said, cutting off my train of thought. "She's been on her own for weeks. I think she had a group at the beginning, but now…. I know Nicole. She's smart. She's not much of a people person, but she's not dumb either. She knows that there's safety in numbers. She wouldn't just leave her group. Either something bad happened, or she never had a group to begin with. She's definitely alone." The way Rick said it, it made sense, but I couldn't be completely sure.

I still didn't trust her.

Shane was still staring possessively at the guns, and Rick seemed lost in thought, so I turned and walked away, heading towards Carol. She was one of the people who didn't annoy the shit out of me, and I still felt awful for her, knowing that her daughter was lost out there somewhere. Carol really wasn't a bad person. She wasn't half as self-centered as most of the rest of the people in this group. She understood that I liked my space, and she got why I put my tent so far away from the others, why I preferred to work alone, and she didn't get on my nerves. She smiled weakly when I approached, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She was hanging a shirt on the clothesline with shaky hands.

Her hair was longer than it had been at the beginning, like mine was. Her blue shirt was faded and her jeans were torn at the knees. We all looked that way, though. Everything we owned was either faded, ripped, or stained, usually with walker guts. We did laundry out of necessity more than out of habit. Plus, it gave Carol something to do, to take her mind off of the elephant in the room.

"I looked near the old bike path." I said plainly, avoiding eye contact. She just nodded solemnly. We never liked to say Sophia's name. It made it too difficult, but I could tell that Carol was beginning to have the same doubts that I was. It had been a while since Sophia disappeared. Neither of us wanted to say it, but we both knew the truth. It was very likely that she was gone, but we weren't leaving until we had proof. "No trail."

The woman looked down at her feet. "Thanks for trying." She said solemnly.

"Yeah, well, all I did was try." I shrugged, trying to make it seem like less of deal than she was making it out to be. I hadn't actually done anything yet. "But hey, I'll find 'er. You just wait. You'll see." I clapped her lightly on the shoulder, before turning again, this time towards the camp. I heard her sigh as I walked away, her head slumped. I felt bad for Carol. We weren't so different, me and her. Sure, I had an abusive father and she had an abusive husband, but in the end, we were both the same. We both hid our feelings from the world. It was easier that way. Way easier.

I trudged up the hill, my knees popping as I went. I saw my bucket next to the fire and I looked around for Andrea. When I didn't see her anywhere near, I decided to finish skinning them right there. I sat on a lawn chair and pulled out my knife, taking a squirrel out of the bucket.

Call me insane, but I actually liked skinning animals. It was kind of relaxing. For a moment, I wasn't at this camp. It wasn't the fucking apocalypse. No walkers were tryin ta' eat me every other minute. For a moment, I was back home, skinning my haul after a long day of hunting in the backwoods, all by myself. Those were the best days.

I barely even noticed how quickly the time went by until I finished with my last squirrel and looked up. The sun had moved further west, so I could tell that it was at least 5 or 6 p.m. at this point. I wiped the sweat off my brow and returned my knife to my belt. I grabbed my bucket and set off toward the house. Like always, I was going to give my catch to the women. They always managed to cook it in a way that the others found 'more appetizing' than stewing it over a fire. Personally, I didn't give a shit how it was prepared, as long as I could eat it. But, I guess I was a 'people person' now. Whatever the group wants and all that shit.

The house was fairly quiet when I walked in, which surprised me a little. I placed the bucket on the counter in the empty kitchen. The only sound was a woman's laugh coming from across the hall. Carl's room. Oh yeah, I thought. Maggie said he was up. Quietly, I looked in through the cracked door.

Carl was lying on the bed, sitting up slightly. I was impressed with how much better he looked compared to a week ago. The color had returned to his already pale skin and he looked less exhausted than he had when I had come in yesterday. Carl was a good kid, I really did like him. It was just his family that I thought was insufferable. It wasn't the kids fault that his mom was screwing his 'uncle'.

He was smiling and his eyes were bright, so I knew something had made him happy. At that moment, I realized that he was talking to the woman that the laughter belonged to. Nicole. She was sitting at the foot of the bed, her hand on Carl's foot, which was under a blanket. Her other hand tucked a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"Of course you got shot." Nicole chuckled, shaking her head. Her voice caused me to freeze where I was. I realized that this was the first time I had heard her speak. She had a slight southern drawl, but not as much as her brother. For such a small person, she had a fairly low pitched voice, and it was a little scratchy, like she had smoked, but something told me that it was just naturally that way. I'm not sure what I was expecting her to sound like, but it was... not the voice I had expected her to have. "Clumsy Carl, as always."

"Says the girl who had to go to the hospital for cracking her forehead open because she tripped over a fire hydrant!" Carl shot back, laughing hysterically, pointing at her. Nicole leaned back, a hand on her chest, feigning shock. Her face was offended, but her eyes were playful.

"Carl Grimes! You promised not to bring that up ever again! That hurt like hell!" She scolded him, jokingly. Carl broke into a fit of laughter, and Nicole chuckled loudly, shoving the boy's shoulders. I bit back a small grin. This was the first time I had seen the kid smile in a good long while.

Obviously, these two had a very strong connection, a very deep friendship that I would never understand. Still, I didn't entirely trust this woman. She was someone new, and all new people were not to be trusted in my book. Hell, I barely trusted the Greenes, and we had been here for over a week. And the fact that she was Shane's sister didn't help matters. I sure as hell didn't trust him, so why should I trust her?

Slowly, I crept away from the door, not wanting to intrude anymore on their reunion. But as I stepped away, I could have sworn that I saw Nicole look right at me and smirk.

But then again, that could have just been my imagination.

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