The plan, as expected, was flawed through and through. As their truck rolled into a nearby town, Daryl couldn't help but ponder whether the redhead was worth the shit he was exposing himself to. It was one thing when they were in their element - it was another now that him and Merle were to approach the girls in a whole lot of a livelier place.

And then Daryl also had doubts whether they would be there at all. The only evidence of Merle's plan having low but still a percentage of a success was that pair of green knickers he spotted the other day. Apparently the girl who's gifted them revealed the fact of an upcoming trip to the nearest town the group was to have. It sounded far too fishy for Daryl, especially the claim the girls would then have five hours of unsupervised time to explore.

To begin with, he didn't think there was anything in that town to keep anyone entertained for solid five hours. Let alone a bunch of city girls. Merle was far more optimistic than his brother.

"I've already booked that cheap ass motel we crashed at last time. They don't ask questions and seen worse shit than a little princess with a chaperone," the older Dixon mused.

It wasn't like Merle to spend any cash on girls, no matter how small the amount was. The willingness to come prepared with a pre-paid room suggested to Daryl that even his brother wanted to leave a bit of an impression on someone from a city. No doubt this was to become one of the trophy stories he'd recall when drinking.

While Daryl didn't share his brother's enthusiasm, he did hope Merle's hunch was correct. Not just because he wanted to see Leanne, but also because he knew shit would go down had his brother been stood up. While his understanding of pride was rather distorted from what normal people defined it as, Merle was filled to the brim with it.

The drive was no longer than 40 minutes, but the anxiety triggered by various scenarios of things going wrong made it feel as if they were travelling across the state. Merle then finally pulled into a parking lot in front of a run down diner.

"On foot from here,"

he barked, but a gleeful expression of anticipation was still present on this face. It's been a long while since he's seen this look on Merle.

"Where now?"

Daryl asked, as this didn't look like a meeting up point, not even by Merle's merits. The other brother shrugged.

"Wherever. You're on your own now, little brother. I find my bitch, you go after yours."

With that, Merle slapped him on the back, reaffirming Daryl's suspicion this was not thought through at all. There was no guarantee the flock was in this town, and even if they were, it wasn't likely that running into the Dixons was part of their plans. To top it all up, it was on them to try and find the damned girls.

His choices were limited. Stay in the truck and wait for Merle to return like some tool, or say fuck it and give it a shot. Daryl chose the later.

With hands pushed down the front pockets of his trousers, without a second glance at his brother, he started walking off in a general direction of the city. Given the parking lot was empty, this was a rather awkward strut.

"Don't you get yourself in trouble, Darlene!"

Merle yelled, though his taunt had tonality similar to 'good luck'. Daryl didn't turn around. Girls or no girls, the town had a few pubs even his piss poor ass could afford. If he didn't stumble across Leanne within an hour, he'd wait out in one of those.

The diner they stopped by was located at the outskirts of the town, so it took a short brisk walk for him to reach busier streets. Before he could see the high street, he could smell it. Many different aromas flooded into his nostrils at once: food, perfumes, coffee. Basically the scents that were not as common in his natural habitat. All artificial and irritating, all so intense it was giving him a headache.

Daryl glanced at the clock in one of the stores he was walking past. Mid-day. He knew very little about what would a leisure trip to a town look like, but based on his general assumptions, people from the city enjoyed stopping for a lunch and paying far too much for ridiculously small portions.

Should he try passing a few restaurants to see if Leanne did just that? The idea was ridiculous, and, frankly, he struggled picturing her following the pattern he has just mapped out. This was the only lead Daryl had, but he himself understood how dumb it was. And therefore, virtually, he had nothing.

"Fuck that,"

He finally muttered, deciding this was not worth the effort. Finding a girl in a town when he wasn't sure whether she was there at all or if she wanted to be found... Not that he had better things to do, but this would cause more hassle than he was willing to go through.

Although it was no one other but himself to sincerely doubt the chance of the plan's success, Daryl was reduced to a particularly foul mood now that he's given up that little hope he had. With a huff, he turned down a dodgy looking alleyway before he even reached the high street. There was no point to show his face there unless he had a specific goal in mind.

The alleyway stank of piss - and not a fresh one. Despite its close proximity to what was probably the most culturally advanced place in 100 miles radius, the narrow path of concrete was in no better shape than a sewer. None of that discouraged the man though and so he proceeded walking further. After all, he knew what was at the end. Or so he thought.

At the door of one of the shittiest bars in town, he was met by an unmistakable shade of ginger hair. From looking at her back alone he could tell the girl was agitated as she reached into her pocket, shoving the item she pulled out into the doorman's hand. As expected from such place, the gorilla of a man didn't bother inspecting it thoroughly. Daryl was sure one would need to know how to read for that. Soon, a clearly forged ID was back with its owner and Leanne proceeded inside.

Daryl's mind was positively blown. Not only had he found the redhead, but in the most unlikely place one would expect a young girl from a city to be. Atop of all, she had a fake ID on her. None of the girls in the camp were 18, let alone 21. His curiosity has grown ten folds, but also led to the next dilemma - how the hell was he going to approach her?

While running into her was, indeed, an accident - it was also something he had secretly hoped to happen, and therefore it would be difficult to act as this was truly just luck. Would she be creeped out had she suspected he sought to see her? Given the situation on hand, Daryl had doubts. But again, it was a challenge for him not to think of her as a spoilt brat from the city.

Figuring there was nothing to be lost either way, Daryl spat on the ground and headed into the pub himself. The redhead was sat at the bar opposite from the door, and thus registered him straight away. Was she waiting for someone? He had half-expected to see a terrified expression on her face as someone she's known, even if it was just in a passing, appeared. Instead, a pair of lively brown eyes studied him with clear curiosity.

"Oi, you,"

Daryl jerked his chin in the redhead's direction. This was the closest to a greeting he could muster without sounding awkward. It had also dawned on him this was the first time he's got to see her face properly.

Leanne's face was peppered in freckles, but this did not make her look strange. If anything, paired with a facial structure that looked like a natural smirk, it was oddly charming. A smile curled on the girl's lips and she waved at him casually.

"Now now. If I didn't know the entire street was a public toilet, I'd think you came looking for a place to piss again."

He couldn't help but huff with a hint of amusement at her remark. He should probably ask if he could join her...But that would look pretty pathetic on his behalf. Instead, Daryl planted himself in a chair next to her.

"Didn't expect your type to come here."

"What exactly is my type?"

Daryl groaned internally - the hell was he going to answer? He wasn't the one to look for words to say, but he wasn't sure how to talk to this one without fear of scaring her off. Leanne has seemingly caught on and laughed, shaking her head.

"Whatever, man. I know the answer. A posh little brat, trying to rebel because mommy and daddy don't give her time of a day."

"Yeah, I guess...You want a drink?"

"Does a fish swim?"

Similarly to Merle, Daryl was never the one to spend money on anyone but himself. Yet he ordered two pints of beer, one for Leanne. He wasn't sure why, but some social lubricant could be of good use. Without waiting, he took a big swig as soon as his drink was served.

"Do you normally come here?"

Leanne inquired, taking a much more moderate sip than himself. Daryl knew the beer was just barely better than a glass of piss, but it didn't seem to bother the redhead. To answer her question, he simply nodded. And then there was silence.

All the things he wanted to say before have swiftly vanished from his mind. In fact, was there anything in particular that he wanted to say? He was trying to meet a girl he didn't know for no fucking reason and now that he did, he was at the loss.

"That shit you smoked the other night... It ain't from here,"

This was the first thought to cross his mind, the only touch point he felt he might have had with Leanne. If she wasn't to think he was an absolute unit by now, Daryl would be impressed.

And impress him she did, by offering a small nod with a follow-up.

"Yeah, I've stacked up before leaving. Wasn't sure I'd get any here. Want to try sometime?"

The day was getting weirder with each passing second. Not only she didn't blow him off, but she also invited him to smoke a joint? Things were too good to be true, therefore triggering his suspicion.

"As if I can get into that fucking camp of yours. Bet y'all bein' watched now in case we're back."

"Oh, no more than before,"

Leanne took a bigger sip of her drink now, wiping the foam off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"It's not the first rodeo for me. Parties and shit happen all the time at these type of places. The adults normally turn a blind eye to it. They only show up when shit gets out of hand and they can't pretend to ignore it. Like it did that night. So if it's just you and not an entire pack of rednecks, we'll be fine."

It was difficult for him to believe that. So much Daryl didn't even flinch as she openly called him a redneck. While this was no direct invitation, he understood it being one - but would he take it? Something about Leanne, possibly the permanent smirk plastered on her face, suggested she was the type to get him in trouble. Intentionally.

"Like hell I'm comin' there,"

He said with a huff. The redhead only shrugged and he guessed she'd either give up the idea or try and change his mind. Both options would indicate the fishiness of her intent. However, Leanne brought up the third solution, one he didn't think of.

"I can sneak out and meet you on a neutral ground, then."

"In the woods? At night? You mad?"

"You said yourself there were no bears in there. What else is to fear?"

Daryl considered for a moment. While he was still alerted, her suggestion left little room for suspicion. He tried to go think of how she could deceive him, but Leanne has ultimately offered to meet him on his grounds. If there was any danger for either for them, it wasn't him. While he wasn't a fan of an idea of letting her wander through the forest at night, Daryl also told himself this was none of his problems. Plus, the redhead came up with the idea herself.

"Fine. There's a creek 'bout five minutes south from where the fire pit at the camp was. Think you can make it?"

"Easy. Tomorrow, midnight?"

This was sooner than he could have expected, but Daryl nodded.

"Aye. Will be there."

With a wide grin now spread across her face, Leanne picked her pint up again. Although it was still half full, the younger girl raised it up and gulped down all that was left in one go. Daryl couldn't help but be impressed. He had never seen a female do such thing, let alone one this young and not from a trailer park.

What followed was a loud burp and that's where he finally cracked, breaking into an audible laugher.

"Fuckin' hell, woman. You sure you ain't got cock?"

Leanne couldn't help but laugh too, though he noted her pale complexion becoming slightly pinker than before. Having calmed down, Leanne put the empty glass down.

"Thanks for a drink. I gotta go. My friend lives in this town, thus how I knew of this place. Meeting that fucker is more or less the highlight of this trip for me, so I better go. Anyway. See you tomorrow night?"

"Aye."

So he was right - she did look like she was waiting for someone. But why was she so willing to scurry away now that he was here? Was that friend a guy? Someone she liked? For some reason Daryl didn't like the thought, but quickly chased it away. Just as he was about to go back to nursing his drink, Leanne added.

"But it seems this place isn't as hopeless. I've got to meet one cool person. See ya."

And just like that, before he could process what she's just said, the redhead was gone.