Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any of its characters, except Danny. She's obviously mine.

Danny's POV

No matter how tired I thought I was last night I still laid awake for a good few hours before I finally managed to fall asleep. Images just kept flashing behind my lids. My family, those men, the blood. It just keep all replaying on a loop. When I finally did succumb to sleep those images turned into dreams, I probably should have just stayed up with the guys because I'm just as tired as I would have been if I hadn't slept a wink.

I'm sat in one of the camping chairs, my head resting on my hand, watching Merle going through all of our supplies. I am bored.

Back before all this started I was a runner and that's what I'm itching to do right now. I miss the wind on my face I even miss the sound of my feet thudding against the pavement, a rhythm that keeps me going.

But trainers is another thing I'm having to add to the list of things I need to go and get. Maybe Merle would come with me because there's no chance they'll let me go off alone, not now.

"Merle", he glances up quickly but doesn't stop doing what he's doing, more too just show me he's listening. "There's a couple of things I need to stock up on that I forgot to get yesterday would you come with me?"

He leans back, "Sure if it'll stop you twitching ya feet, its fuckin' annoyin'". He makes me suddenly aware of my feet and I instantly stop them moving. A habit I started back in the old world when I was itching to go for a run.

"Only if ya come gun trainin' with us after". Didn't realise Daryl was around but I don't have a problem with that compromise.

"Sure, but only if we leave in the next ten minutes". Daryl nods and I just sit and watch them gather things they might need. I'm all set. My knife is strapped to my thigh thanks to a holder Merle found in his many bags of supplies. My bat is permanently sat beside me, it's never leaving my side again and my backpack is fully packed with things I will need in case of an emergency. It's been my getaway bag way before I met the Dixons.

TWDTWDTWDTWD

Exactly ten minutes later we're all sat on the bench seat of the truck pulling out of the quarry. Merle behind the wheel as normal.

"Where am I goin'?"

"I need a couple more items of clothing, I get cold remember". Merle nods.

"Find a pharmacy to, we're going through Merles stash too quickly". Daryl uses the word we but he means me.

"Sorry" but Daryl just shakes his head.

TWDTWDTWDTWD

We don't go into the city of Atlanta, instead Merle manages to find a small town that has a small shopping strip, local businesses that are now ransacked, but it will do with what we need.

Merle parks the truck at the end of the street where it's clear and quiet. We all climb out and just stand, waiting, listening to see if anything happens, but it remains dead. I'm not stupid, I know there will be walkers, probably lots but at least for now we're okay.

I set my eyes on a small boutique that appears untouched from the outside, one of the only shops to actually look this way. Most have been looted and it shows from the state of their fronts. Guess there was less need for clothes when all this happened.

I point my bat towards the shop. "I'll go there, it should have what I need".

"I'll go with ya". Daryl loads a bolt into his crossbow as I just nod in acceptance, I won't argue that.

I start heading that way, Daryl on my heal which is when I realise Merle isn't following. I turn to him, carefully walking backwards.

"You not coming?"

"I'll stay out here Daisy, keep watch". He doesn't want to be sneaked up on again, if he could keep the engine running I'm sure he would but that'd be a waste. Instead I keep it light and play his seriousness off.

"Daisy, as in flower right?" He barely nods, "I'm not that delicate baby".

"Oh I know sweetheart, I've seen what you can do, don't mean ya don't look it". He winks and then goes back to looking around the street.

We arrive at the door, Daryl peers in through the glass, looks clear but to be sure he taps the door. Not too hard, we don't wanna draw the wrong walkers over. We wait a few minutes but nothing moves inside, but we know that doesn't mean it's clear just that they are unable to get to us.

Daryl pushes the door open and I watch his back go ridged as the bell above the door jingles.

"At least we'll know if something tries to sneak in". Daryl just grunts in response, I'm starting to notice that high alert and talking aren't something he can do together, not that he's much of a talker anyway.

I stand by the door, my bat at the ready, my eyes roaming every square inch for something wrong as he moves around the shop. He's searching every nook and cranny, behind every railing, we learnt that the hard way.

Once he's done his very thorough sweep he lowers his crossbow.

"All yours". I head straight for the shoe section, there aren't many options but I only need to find some in my size, doesn't really matter what they look like.

After some searching I find a blue pair in my size and force them into the bag at my feet, I then move on to find a hoodie and some sweats.

I grab a couple of each and when I'm done I set my eyes on Daryl.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah said I only needed a couple of things." He nods.

"Why the trainers, ya boots not comfy?"

"Boots are fine, I um..." Do I tell him, I mean he's gonna find out when he sees me running but it just seems like a stupid reason to divulge with him about why I dragged them out this way. He raises his eyebrows, I'm taking too long to answer. "Okay, this is stupid but I like to run it was what I did to calm my nerves and to keep me from being bored. I didn't mean to make it into this big outing". I'm basically risking their lives for a pair of shoes, pretty reckless.

"Runnin's a good thing to be good at. Ya can't fight ya way outta everythin'". He picks up the duffel bag. "Ya gonna start again?"

"Yeah the quarry's a pretty big place. I'm not super-fast but I'm pretty good at long distance running."

Daryl opens the door, going ridged again at the sound of the bell. We walk out into the street to find it's still quiet except for a lone walker lying at Merles feet. His head freshly caved in.

Daryl chucks my duffel in that bed of the truck and then we set off walking down the street. We all stay an equal distance away from each other, all keeping an eye on our surroundings and on each other's backs.

Daryl sends an arrow into another lone walker but other than that it stays quiet.

We realise there isn't a pharmacy on this street but as we go to turn the corner Daryl suddenly pushes me back against the wall. I latch onto his arm stopping him from going anywhere to. Around the corner, further up the street, is about 10 walkers, give or take. Not something we just want to walk into, especially without a plan.

Merle peers his head around the corner and instantly retracts with a chuckle.

"Ya aren't gonna fuckin' believe this. They're stood outside the pharmacy."

"How many are there?" Daryl checks the bolt in his crossbow as he waits for Merle to count how outnumbered we are.

"Twelve, but I think we can do this".

"We can't use guns".

"Why not, shitheads won't stand a chance".

"Cause, you idiot, the sound could draw more out". Are they really going to argue now, although Daryl does have a point and I'm not ready for that many up close and personals. Maybe one or two but definitely not twelve. Even split evenly that's still too many for my amateur skills.

They're still arguing over what to do while I move along the wall and peer around the corner. The walkers are literally stood in front of the store, and only there. There's a massive open space on the other side of the street.

We could draw them away and then just send in one of us to gather what we need.

"Guys..." They ignore me, "Guys". I say it a little louder but not too loud, don't want to ruin this plan. They jerk their heads in my direction. "We can draw them away, take them around the block and meet back up by the truck."

Merle smiles, "Perfect, I'll steal a car draw them away, give you guys twenty minutes. Look at you comin' up with good plans munchkin".

I ignore his comment because at least he agrees with me.

"Sure, If..." I block them out as they start discussing the plan but I have a better, dangerous but better and quicker plan, and they aren't going to like it. I just won't give them option to say no.

I tighten the straps on my backpack to make it sit tighter against my back, I pull the bobble off my wrist and pull my hair up into a ponytail.

"This will be quicker". I then take off running out into the street. I try and keep quiet as I race across to the empty side of the street. I can hear Daryl calling my name before he instantly stops realising he can't mess this up otherwise it could go seriously wrong.

I make it across the street barely noticed, I run along the side of the parked cars and scoop up a trashcan lid. Using my bat I start making a noise.

As soon as I've got them all interested I take off at slow jog, no point disappearing from their view, don't want them losing interest and spotting the Dixons.

The loud sound draws out a few more walkers, ones that were sat against cars, hiding in doorways but I just move into the middle of the street and pick up my pace.

The brothers have twenty minutes before I circle round and get back to the truck, let's just hope they remember Merles plan.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

I've lost pretty much all of the walkers I'd gathered. I'd outrun them fifteen minutes in, Now I've just got stragglers who I run past and decide they want to follow. But it's not hard to lose those to.

I'm really not looking forward to getting back and seeing the anger on Daryl. Merle will understand, hell I'm sure if I'd told him my plan he would have gone along with it after some convincing, unless he really wanted to steal a car. There, at least, would have been a seventy percent chance of him saying yes, Daryl would have out rightly refused to listen.

It's amazing how quickly he's accepted me into his family and he will do anything for his family. It's amazing to know I have people watching out for me but he has to understand that there are things I can actually do, and being bait is one of those.

I spot the truck down the road as I jog round the corner. Merle is leaning across the bonnet while Daryl is pacing around up and down. I can tell the moment Merle spots me because he wiggles his fingers in my direction, well at least he's smiling but can't say much for Daryl who definitely looks like he's scowling more than usual.

I slow down to a walk as I get within a hundred yards of them.

"What the fuck do ya think you were doin'". Guess Daryl isn't going to waste any time.

"Helping, and it did help didn't it?" I glance across at Merle who gives me the tiniest of nods.

Daryl just stands there and stares at me, his mouth set in a hard line, I can even see a muscle moving in his jaw. I have a moment of hesitation where I think maybe I did the wrong thing but I push it from my thoughts. I was right, maybe should have gone about it a bit differently but I definitely didn't do anything to warrant this much anger from him.

I wait for him to say something else as I will not be apologising, but he doesn't. He takes a tiny step back before turning and yanking open the drivers door. I lunge forward and push it closed, he doesn't even look down at me.

"You cannot act like this didn't help". He grabs the handle again but I stay rooted to my spot. "Listen to me, there are a lot of things I can't do, I'm hoping with help we can change that but until then I need to be useful. I have to help like you helped me. I am a part of this little group now and you have to trust me just as much as I trust you." His body loses some of it's rigidness, "Give me credit, I can't fight but I make damn good bait, I'm not a fighter but this i can do, you said so yourself, you can't fight your way through everything".

His shoulders completely relax as he lets out a strong puff of air. I can't help but smile, he's on board.

"Next time give me more warnin'". I move out of the way to allow Daryl to finally open his door, which he holds open for me to climb in first.

"Next time don't let me think I can steal a car and then just rip away my dreams like that squirt". Merle slams his door shut and starts up the truck, "Now to hold up your side of the deal".

Gun training.

I hope you enjoyed and please review, I'll update again soon.