Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize. Although I would love to have my own personal Daryl Dixon. Short and sweet.

AN: So I decided that I would post up two new chapters today to celebrate the release of The Hobbit! I'm so excited, I love that movie. Since I'm posting two chapters today I won't be posting again til Sunday so I hope yall enjoy. This chapter is a little short but the next one isn't.

Chapter 6

Adrian and Kale had been in Atlanta for hours but had yet to catch up with Rick and the others. They had thought they would be able to make it to the CDC but their truck got surrounded a few miles from the CDC so they had to grab what they could and abandon ship.

They had ended up in what used to be a nursing home but someone had come in and killed everyone. The sight of all those defenseless old people, as well as the smell, was atrocious, but it was better than being outside.

"We'll go back tomorrow and get the rest of the supplies tomorrow. Maybe scout around a little, find out exactly how far we are from the CDC. Meet up with Rick and his group." Adrian said to Kale as she was putting some last minute touches on a homemade arrow.

"I thought that we were going to stay away from them. You did say that they weren't our people. I mean you even told Carl that. What changed?" Kale asked. Adrian looked up from her wooden arrow to stare at the young man she had picked up.

Adrian had found him a few miles into the woods from Atlanta being chased by a handful of walkers when she had been out hunting on morning. He was attractive for a seventeen year old. If she had been a few years younger, she might even have tried to hit on him. But she was a full ten years older than him but he was still a cute kid.

Although he was skinny and looks like nothing more than big bones encased in tight skin, but the boy had more muscle on him than one would think. He could fight too, which was a good thing to know these days. He had extremely shaggy dark brown hair that had a tendency to fall into his eyes often and tended to curl towards the left. He had warm brown-green eyes and was overall a good kid.

Kale had been so thankful for Adrian's help that day and had been even more thankful when she said she would take him in and he could stay as long as he had wanted.

Kale was a city kid and hadn't known jack about how to live in the wild. Adrian had done so much for him since she had saved him, that he was willing to do anything she asked of him.

He had lost all of his family to the walkers, so Adrian was all he had now. He had asked about her family one night.

She had just said that she didn't know if any of them were alive or dead and had left it at that. Until a week later when he was startled awake by her screaming.

After that she told him about her family and her life before the outbreak. Afterwards he had wished he had never even asked her about it.

"They aren't our people but they could be if we let each other. Just remember Kale, safety with numbers is the best thing for people these days. You just have to find the right people." Adrian said in a low voice before going back to her arrow.

"But how do we know that those people are the right people?" Kale asked uncertainly. Kale understood her logic but if he was being honest with himself, he was a little jealous that he would be loosing all of her attention. He would have to share her time with others. He wasn't in love with her, but he did like her and have a crush on her.

"They're good people, Kale. Maybe not Shane, but at the same time I understand why he does the things he does. Everyone in Rick's group has heart and kindness in them. They are the kind of people you want to be loyal to. They could be as good for us as we could be for them." Adrian said never looking up at him.

"Like that Dixon guy? I know that you spied on him more than any of the others in that camp." Kale asked, not really sure if he should have asked the question. Adrian had been shaving the tip of the arrow to an even finer point but stopped at the question but never looked up.

"He's not a bad guy. Me and him have alot in common as people. We're both socially awkward, we're ashamed of our past, we know that we have to really work to have people accept us the way we are. The woods is where we can be ourselves without anyone there to judge us." she said as she started witling at her arrow again.

"Something you have to understand about people like me, Kale, is that in a way we can be compared to an abused animal. After being beaten for a period of time, you learn to start to fight back. Then you somehow manage to find kind people who want nothing more than to show you kindness, but at that point it's hard to trust people.
But the people keep coming back and being kind to you and after a while you think that maybe they aren't so bad and little by little, you begin to trust them. And then after a little while longer, you realize that not all people are the same. Trust has to be earned slowly over a long period of time." Adrian said never taking her focus off of her arrow.

"You trusted me quickly." Kale said in a hopeful tone. But then he seen the small sad smile on her lips.

"No I didn't Kale. I allowed you into my camp, offered to take care of you, but I didn't trust you. But you earned it quicker than most people. You offered to learn how to hunt, you took care of things around the camp without being asked. You wanted to earn your keep there and by doing so, you earned my trust." she said still focused.

It hurt a little to know that she hadn't trusted him right away but if there was one thing he ha learned about Adrian Hunter, it was that she was a tough bitch. Her life had made her that way, he understood that, but it didn't mean that he sometimes wished that she were different.

More normal maybe. Or what used to be normal. But then again, if she had been normal, they would both most likely be dead. Even in the old world, Adrian was the kind of girl that a guy noticed. She was tough, confident in herself although unsure how to act around other people, she was beautiful, kind to those she deemed earned or deserved it, and wasn't afraid to tell a person how it was.

Like when she dealt with Carl both at their camp and at his. He had asked question most people would want to shield a child from, be she had told it t him straight. She had told him that he needed to still listen t his mother, that even though he was still a child that he needed to learn how to fight because, unlike the old world, this world didn't care if you were a child or an adult.

And then she had sat there and told him that they may never see each other again, when most adults would have given him a half truth of a little white lie about seeing each other again someday.

There were a few things about Adrian that Kale knew but at the same time, wished he didn't. She had had an extremely hard life and some days he was amazed that she had pulled through and was the kind of person she was today.

He knew that this new group would do more good for her than it would ever do for him and after everything she had done for him, how could he tell you not to try and join Rick's group. He would follow her lead on joining the group but he would also keep a close eye on her and the people from the other group.

Especially Shane.