Wendy imouto chan and FairMaiden and EverlarkCullenGrangerWilliams are some very epic people...just saying.

Wendy imouto chan- I am with you on a ship-name. I personally like Dacole, but I am going to entrust you to create the ship-name for me. You seem to love it so much that I want to see what you think. Also, I love the name Dani. Trust me. That thought had already crossed my mind...

Here we go, chapter 11! Thank you so much for everything you guys do. Thank you to my lovely readers, and especially to my favoriters (that a word?), followers, and of course, my lovely reviewers. You guys are the reason I write.

Let me know what you think!

Daryl POV

"You don't own me. I'm not just one of your many toys. You don't own me. Don't say I can't go with other boys." You Don't Own Me- Grace

I glared at the kid, whose face was now littered with purple bruises from where my fists, and one of Nicole's, had collided with his skin. He was starting to get on my nerves, this kid. He was like one of those annoying bugs that always buzzed in your ear, but when you finally turn to kill it, it disappears, like it had never even been there in the first place, like you had been imagining it the whole time. But, the problem was, I knew that I was not imagining this kid.

And I say kid, because that was basically what he was. He could only be, what, 25? 26? He had gone to highschool with Maggie. That was the exact reason why Shane and Rick hadn't set him loose. He knew Maggie. He knew where the farm was. If they had let him go, he would have led his whole group back here. That's why Rick and Shane had come back early. But, judging by the bruises on both of their faces that they tried, and failed, to hide, a little more had happened in town than they were telling. But that was an issue that I did not need to get in the middle of.

"So," I snarled, stepping away from Randall. "Tell us. This group of yours. Where are they? Who are they?"

"Oh, they're something alright." Randall gave a choking laugh. "Almost thirty of us, you know. Thirty men, the most random assortment of men you've ever seen. Big guys. meat heads, jocks, brainiacs. So very different men. But, we're all tied together, connected by one thing; the desperate need to survive. We may be thirty different men, but we are all working together to survive this shit show." He said it in a calm tone, laced with humor and malice. He said it in a way that made my skin crawl. I bit back a sneer.

"Working together?" My lips curled. "You guys didn't seem so 'together' when they left you for dead. They haven't even come searching for you. So the question is, what do you do together? Because from what I've seen, together isn't a real thing." I crossed my arms, as best as I could with my bow slung over my shoulder. Nicole stood next to me, in the same stance as me. The sleeves of her flannel shirt were rolled up, so you could see her muscles clenching and unclenching in irritation. I kept finding myself staring at her hand, still in shock from what she had told me earlier. She had cut his hand off. She had actually taken an axe and cut her stepfather's hand off. That was just…. Crazy.

"Oh, we've done lots of things." Randall quipped, trying to straighten up a little, even though his hands were tied above his head. "I remember one of the first things that happened with us, when there were only 10 of us. I remember," He gave a slightly creepy smile. "We were travelling at night, our group, when we came across a campsite. A father, and his two daughters, teenagers. Anyway, they fed us and gave us water. And in return…..well… you know what they did." He said the final part with a sadistic smile. I felt Nicole tense next to me, he breath getting quicker. "And, they just made the dad watch. They held him there and forced him to watch as these men, as we, did things to his daughters. And then, once we were done, we just left them there. We picked up, took what we wanted, and left."

I fought back the bile that rose in my throat as my stomach clenched. These men were horrible. And, unfortunately, this was exactly what I was expecting. I knew, just from the way Randall spoke, that these were men we did not want to get involved with. We had to make sure they never found us.

"So, is that what you would do to us?" I grunted, stepping closer, bending over so our eyes were almost level.

Randall gave another throaty laugh, shaking his bloody head. "Not exactly." He chided. "No. You guys, you're different. More of a conquest than a weak man and his two young daughters. No. You guys are going to be a bit more difficult, but we will take you out all the same. For you men, we would capture you. We would take you out, one by one. Cut off your arms, the cop's leg, the other one's hands, the old man's feet, same for all the other men with you. We wouldn't stop until all of you were incapacitated, not dead, not unconscious, just unable to fight, unable to resist. And then...then we would really have some fun. Start with the oldest, probably the silver fox. Looks like she may be the least fun of the group… although, who am I to judge. Then.. probably onto that brunette that always looks like you just threatened her. She's with the cop, right? Wait…. She's with both cops. Oh, that one will be fun. Watching you guys struggle, watching both men plead for her, knowing full well there is nothing they can do. Then, personally, I would go for the stuck-up blonde, then the young one, with the dough eyes. Then, I'd move on to the brunette, the cowgirl. We could show her a wild ride." He chuckled a little at this. Then, his eyes narrowed, and he looked up at us, and spoke in a voice, barely above a whisper. Somehow, it made him even more threatening than before. "And I would save you for last." he hissed at Nicole. "Most men have a type, but I believe everyone in my group would find a way to make you their type. Big, blue eyes, silky smooth hair, full lips, kicking, young body. You have everything they could want. You… I don't think we would kill you. No. We would keep you, bring you with us, like our pet. It would be perfect. And then…. Then we would kill the rest of them."

I shuddered at the graphic images he painted in my mind. Nicole stood completely still. I turned my head to look at her. She wore a poker face, impressively keeping her calm, trying to avoid an outburst, like the kind Randall had wanted. Her face was stonelike, but her eyes were ablaze, the blue ignited by rage, seemingly glowing. She was pissed. I could tell.

Slowly, she stepped forward, so she was by me. Her breathing was slow, calculated. Her eyes narrowed into small slits. She reached forward and grabbed a fistful of Randall's shirt collar, and pulled him closer to her, so their noses were only millimeters away from touching. "And you know what I would do?" Nicole hissed.

"Huh?" Randall grunted, staring into her eyes.

"When you show up, the first thing I would do is start with your biggest guys. It's always a great feeling, showing people who think you are weak just how strong you are. And after your biggest men fell, I would go for the little guys. They'd all be weak, terrified of how I just took out their biggest muscles. They would be easy targets." Her voice was barely above a whisper at this point, making her words somehow even more ominous. "And then….then I would kill you. I'd start by cutting you hands off, so you couldn't fight back. And then, I'd cut your feet off, so you couldn't run. And then...well, then I would bring you to the middle of the woods, and leave you there, leave you there waiting for the walkers to be drawn in by the smell of your flesh, leave you there to wait in agony as the walkers devoured you, piece by piece. And then, after you had turned, you would be stuck there. You couldn't crawl away, you couldn't run. You'd be doomed to spend the rest of your time as a walker, stuck, writhing on the ground, until you finally wasted away into nothing. That is what I'd do." Their noses were touching now. Nicole was breathing on his face, slowly and carefully. Randall was breathing quickly now, trying and desperately failing to hide his fear. Hell, even I was a little put off by that threat.

Slowly, Nicole pulled away, turning away from the young man. She began to walk away, completely done with this kid for today.

"Crazy bitch." Randall hissed.

In a split second, Nicole had pulled her gun out and whipped Randall across the head, causing him to slump down, passed out against the wall. My eyes widened in alarm. Slowly, Nicole re-holstered her gun, grunting in satisfaction. She gave me a wry smile. "Sorry." she said.

"It's cool." I grinned, adjusting the strap of my bow. "If you hadn't done it, I would have." She laughed a little at this.

"Let's get out of this damn barn." She grunted, turning to leave the building. I followed suit, quickening a little so we were side by side. She gave me a small smile, but I could still see the apprehension in her eyes. She tried to hide it, but I could tell that Randall's words had rattled her. Something about what he said had shaken her, like being forced into a bad memory. But I pushed that to the back of my mind. Sure we had talked earlier, and she had told me about her father, but I still barely knew her.

Strangely though, I felt like I trusted her, which was...weird. I never trusted people, ever. Yet, with Nicole, I felt like we were the same, like we were somehow connected through some sick, twisted personal trauma.

But, even if I trusted her, why on earth would she trust me? I was a loner, an outcast, the only one of this group that would be forgotten if they disappeared. Why would she trust me?

I finally realized just how awkward the silence between us was, My mind raced to try and find something to talk about. "So… that threat." I said.

"What about it?" She asked, blonde eyebrow raised.

"Were you serious, you know, about all of it? " I was actually curious about it. I believed that she was bluffing, but then again, this was a girl that cut off her stepfather's hand. She may have been serious. "If they had attacked, would you have tortured Randall, left him for the walkers?'

She studied my face with calculating eyes, trying to decided on an answer. Her face was blank, and her voice monotone, when she finally answered. "Yes. Yes I would have." I stopped in my tracks, my eyes wide in alarm. I hadn't expected her to be so, so forward.

"Really?" I asked, alarmed.

"Yes." She stared blankly at me, everything silent for a moment. Then she broke into a smile. "Nah." she laughed. "I probably would just shoot him in the head, plain and simple. Nah, I'm not into that sort of torture stuff."

I stared at her again, not sure if I should laugh or run away screaming. This chick was nuts.

"You think I'm nuts again, don't you?" she smiled, flipping her braid over her shoulder.

"Honestly… a little bit." I chuckled, shaking my head at her. That just made her smile more.

"Good."

We walked towards the camp, where Rick and Shane were discussing something with Dale over by the picnic table. Carol, Lori, Andrea, Glenn, and T-Dog were standing near, crossing their arms. Rick was the first to notice our appearance. He gave us a small smile and waved us over.

"What did he say?" Shane hissed, locking eyes with us.

"What I expected." I grunted, placing my bow on the table. " Thirty men, lots of guns. If they found us, they kill our men. And our women.." he shot a look towards the four women standing in the circle. "They would wish they were dead."

"Are you sure?" Rick groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah." Nicole spoke up, arms crossed. "He was fairly graphic." I had a feeling she was repressing a shudder, just like I was, at the thought of the graphic images.

"What's he doing now?" Shane asked, his eyes hard.

"He is currently passed out against the wall, with his hands tied above his head." She smirked, grinning at the memory. I rolled my eyes at this, although, I did enjoy that moment as well. Nothing like an annoying kid getting punched in the face by your friend to make you smile.

"What?" Shane yelled. "What the hell Nicole? All you needed to do was talk to him! Why can't you do anything right!'

"You weren't in there Shane!" Nicole spat back. "You don't know what he, what his group, did. You don't know."

"Oh whatever." Shane rolled his eyes, groaning. "This is why you can't trust you to do things. Now he'll never talk to us." His glare was furious, and was aimed directly at his little sister. "Next time, you're not going in. You're too emotional for this. Too inexperienced. Stupid."

I rolled my eyes at his primadonna overreaction. "Jesus Christ, Shane!" I hissed, totally fed up with this man. "Calm the hell down. I would have taken the bastard out myself if she hadn't done it first."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better, that my sister thinks the same as an asshole redneck?" Shane snapped back.

"Shane." Lori said in a low, warning tone.

"Hey, you know…." I started to retort, but I felt a hand on my arm, and I turned to see Nicole standing next to me,shaking her head.

"It's okay Daryl." She said in a calm tone. Her voice was warm, and slightly gravelly, in a way that was comforting, yet strong. "This isn't a worthy fight. Thanks anyway." She smiled lightly, squeezing my arm with her tiny hand. I nodded slowly. My anger was still seething,When she finally removed her hand, she turned her focus back to her brother. "And you." She pointed to him. "You better watch yourself, before you run out of people who care about you." She hissed before turning and storming away. Normally, that would have seemed petty and stuck up, but right now, even though I was a hater of the classic storm off, it was perfect. She deserved to be able to storm off.

I noticed that everyone was staring right at me, but I just kept staring at Nicole. Damn. This girl. She was…. She was something else. She was someone different, someone I had never seen before.

I looked down at my arm, at where she had been holding it, and I couldn't help but notice how the skin there still tingled.

Oh Cole, I thought. We're just getting started.

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