Hey guys, here's chapter 2! As always, read and review if you want! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Odd encounters

Ugh. What a fucking day.

It was starting to get dark as I rounded the corner to Alexandria. I had headed out that morning to check some traps I'd laid a few days before. I hadn't planned to be gone more than a few hours. But the universe had other news for me.

I was in the woods pulling a rabbit out of snare, Sandy a few yards behind me, when I heard some distant snarling. Few walkers, no big deal, I thought to myself as I continued with what I was doing. However, a few minutes later, I realized that the noises had multiplied, and unfortunately were growing louder. I slowly stood to my feet, scanning through the trees in front of me. Sandy began to grow restless behind me, tossing her head and pawing. Still watching in front of me, I saw a few walkers begin to take form shuffling through the trees. Then a few more. And then… a lot more.

Fuck.

I quickly darted backwards, jumping on Sandy as fast as I could and swinging her around in the direction opposite the herd. Setting off at a run through the trees, I tried to put as much distance between us a possible. After about 10 minutes, I slowed to see if I could still hear the walkers. They were definitely still audible in the distance, but they didn't seem to be growing any closer. With a sigh of relief, I looked around. I realized, unfortunately, that the herd was between me and Alexandria, meaning I was going to have to go all the way around them. Detour time. We set off at a trot towards what I hoped was the end of the herd. After several miles, I slowly ventured back towards Alexandria, thankfully missing anymore walkers. When we finally emerged on out onto the road, it took me a minute to figure out where we were, but once I did finally get my bearings, I groaned. We were miles past where we'd started, and probably several hours from home on horseback. "Sorry girl, we've still got a hell of a hike," I said to Sandy as I patted her on the neck. She snorted before we set off at a walk.

Which is how I ended up here, walking my very tired horse towards the gates of home. I heard people start yelling as I approached. "Hey, it's Liz! She made it back guys!" I waved to everyone as they pulled open the gate. I hopped off Sandy and explained what had happened to the group around the gate, Aaron being one of them. "You are a sight for sore eyes Liz. I was really starting to worry about you," Aaron said with relief. I gave him a weary smile and shook my head. "You know I can handle myself out there Aaron. I did it for months. Besides, I've got Sandy to look after me, don't I?" I said with a pat to her neck. He laughed a little. "Yea, yea, I know. You tell me all the time…Anyway, you and your mighty steed here look exhausted, so go on home and get some rest. I'll take whatever game you brought and go tell Deanna you made it back." As soon as he said game, my eyes widened, and I twisted around to look behind my saddle

"God dammit, I forgot the fucking rabbit."

Aaron's eyes widened before he busted into a full laugh, me joining him after a few seconds. He straightened up, wiping his eyes. "Ah, Liz. You would be the one worried about dropping one rabbit as you ran for your life," he finally managed to get out. Both of us still fighting laughs, he reached out and gave me a light shove towards home. "Go home, Liz. Have a good night," I gave him a wave as I turned towards my house, walking Sandy beside me, him heading the opposite direction towards Deanna's house.

As we walked down the block and turned the corner to my street, my tiredness hit me full force and I shuffled along at a slow pace, not really paying attention to my surroundings. Which is why I about jumped out of my skin when I heard a quiet, but gruff voice.

"How'd you manage to keep a horse alive this whole time?"

A tiny squeal escaped me as I whirled around, looking for where the voice came from. I finally saw a man sitting on the porch steps off to my left. I realized it was one of the new guys, the one with leather vest. I had yet to really interact with anyone from the new group. They had been here a week or two and were, understandably, still adjusting to living here. They kept to themselves a lot, not that I could blame them. I had been here 6 months and still kept to myself except for occasional dinner with Aaron and Eric. So besides the occasional nod and wave, I don't think I'd even spoken to any of the new members since I'd welcomed them. I didn't even know their names yet.

Biker guy, as I'd been referring to him in my head, seemed to be the most antisocial out of the group. I'd seen a few of the others making small talk with others, but I don't know if I'd ever even heard biker guy speak.

Up until right now, that is. When he decides to use his new-found voice to scare the shit out of you.

Realizing I had still been staring at Biker guy in shock and hadn't actually said anything, I cleared my throat and managed to speak. "oh my god, you scared the shit out of me," shaking my head, i took a deep breath to try and slow down my heart rate before looking back up at him. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Said, how'd you keep a horse alive this whole time," he said with a gesture towards Sandy behind me. I glanced back at her as he did so. "Oh, Sandy? I, uh, well, I don't know really. Wasn't too hard, except for winter. Had to find some hay in a barn then, but, uh, yea…" I trailed off awkwardly. He stared at me for a moment before he just grunted out a "Hmm," and looked down. Feeling mildly uncomfortable, I blurted out the first thing that ran through my head. "I'd say she kept me alive actually. She's saved me more times than I can count."

Nice going Liz, way to sound like the weird horse girl.

He just looked back up at me curiously before getting up off the stairs and making his way across the yard towards us. As he ambled towards me, I realized 2 things. One, he had a cigarette in his hand that I hadn't noticed before. Where the hell is this guy getting cigarettes, crossed through my brain but was quickly overshadowed by the second thing I'd realized.

Biker guy was attractive.

Like, REALLY attractive.

I don't know how I hadn't noticed it while we'd been speaking before, but the closer he got to me the more I felt my eyes widen. Shaggy hair, bad boy vibe, and arms that made me want to drool a little. Check, check, and check.

How the HELL did you not notice this guy, Liz?

At this point, he was right in front of me. "Like when?" he asked quietly in the rough voice before taking a drag of his cigarette. I stared at him for a second, trying to figure out what he was talking about before I croaked out a "what?"

Looking down at me with blue eyes narrowed, he repeated himself, looking at me like I might be a bit slow. "when did she save you?"

"Oh, OH, ok, sorry. Umm… well lot of times really. She always can tell when walkers are coming before I can…and she's helped me out run a lot of walkers. Like today for example, she took me miles out of the way of a herd while I was out hunting. Even though it was a pointless trip cause I forgot the damn rabbit…" I grumbled the last sentence more to myself before continuing. "And she kept me company when I was out there alone. It wasn't the same as human company, but having another living being there was comforting, ya know…" At this point, I realized I'd been rambling a bit and looked up at him.

He nodded his head and took another drag of cigarette. "You were out there alone?" Surprised, I nodded "uh, yea. I was alone until I got here about 6 months ago. Well, mostly alone. But I'd rather not talk about that…" Katie's face flashed across my mind before I shook my head and looked down at my feet.

There was an awkward lull in the conversation as I stared anywhere but him before I saw him moving. Glancing up, I watched him reach out to pat sandy on the nose. She snuffled into his hand and I swear I saw the slightest upward twitch of his lips before he was back to his normal surly expression. He met my gaze and I realized I still didn't know his name.

I stuck my hand out between us. "We haven't actually met before. I'm Liz." He looked down at my hand before dropping his cigarette into the road and grabbing my hand, shaking it once before letting go. "Daryl."

Nodding, I realized we'd been standing in the middle of the road for about 10 minutes. I looked around and said "well, uh, it was nice to meet you Daryl, but I'm beat and so is Sandy, so I'm gonna go…" I trailed off awkwardly again. He nodded once, taking a step back and putting his hands in his pockets.

Turning around I took a few steps away before stopping and looking back over my shoulder. "I'll see you around?" I said, it coming out sounding more like a question than I wanted it to. He nodded again and grumbled out a rough "see ya" before he turned around and headed towards his own house.

Confused by the encounter I'd just had, Daryl didn't leave my mind for the rest of the evening until my head hit the pillow that night.

Yay, we met Daryl! Tell me what you guys think of this chapter! Comments and criticism are always welcome!