Daryl walked in silence as he tracked the deer he had seen earlier. He had been tracking the damn thing for miles, and he was ready to get back to camp. Becca walked equally as silent behind him, carrying her compound bow and the string of squirrels they had collected. They had been out since before sunrise that morning, and now at mid-day, the sun was beating down on them. Daryl brought her out any time he left. He didn't trust anyone else at that camp to watch her.

He looked back to make sure she was still there and saw her watching the ground as she walked. "You okay back there Bex?" he asked.

She looked up at him with a small smile and nodded. "Yeah. Of course. You?" she responded, catching up to him a bit.

"Yeah. Just makin' sure you were." He said, shrugging.

Becca smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand. "I'm alright. Just a lil' hot."

"Yeah ya are." He smirked.

Becca's eyes grew wide as she looked up at him. "Oh my God, Daryl Dixon." She said, laughing quietly.

The snap of a branch caused her laughter to die, and she looked towards the area the sound came from. A small deer appeared in front of them, about fifty feet away. She raised her bow and aimed, ready to finally shoot the animal.

As the arrow left her bow, Becca watch it plant itself in the deer, followed by a bolt from Daryl's cross bow. The deer took off running, causing Becca to sigh. "Shit." She lowered her weapon and looked at Daryl.

"C'mon. We'll find it again." He assured her, leading the way.

The pair tracked the deer in silence until a scream pierced the air. Becca looked at Daryl with wide eyes.

They both took off in the direction of where the scream came, all but forgetting about the deer

Daryl Dixon emerged from the forest first, seeing most of the group gathered around the deer and a walker. Becca came out after them, seeing the same scene. Daryl was practically steaming that the walker had gotten to the animal before they had.

"Oh, Jesus." Dale said upon seeing the couple.

"Son of a bitch. That's our deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" He yelled, kicking the carcass of the walker.

"Daryl, honey, calm down. That's not gonna help anything." Becca said, placing a hand on his arm.

"We've been tracking this deer for miles." Daryl sneered at the walker. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" he asked no one in particular.

"I would not risk that." Shane said, huffing at the pair.

Daryl sighed. "That's a damn shame. Got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Suddenly, the head of the walker started to move its teeth.

"Oh god." Amy whispered.

"Come on, people. What the hell?" Becca griped, pulling out her knife and stabbing the head.

"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl snapped, watching as Becca cleaned her knife on the grass. He retrieved their arrows and helped her up.

The group slowly trudged back to the camp, Daryl and Becca in the back. She nudged him lightly. "Hey, it's ok. We'll get the next one." She said, hoping to calm him a bit.

He grumbled a little but nodded. "Next time." He agreed.

They entered the camp, and Becca handed the string of squirrels to Daryl and took his cross bow.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." He yelled.

Becca looked around the camp and noticed that Merle had not appeared to greet them.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane said, cautiously approaching the man.

"About what?" Daryl countered.

"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta."

"Is he… dead?" Becca asked, fearing the worst.

"We're not sure." Shane said honestly.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl said, his temper rising.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Said a man whom Daryl and Becca had never seen before.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on," Becca said, stepping up to the man, standing between him and Daryl, "You mean to tell us that you handcuffed his brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah."

Enraged, Daryl threw the dead squirrels at Rick who ducked as Shane threw Daryl backwards.

T-Dog emerged from the forest carrying firewood. He dropped the logs and joined the scuffle, restraining Becca as she lunged for Shane. He saw Daryl pull out a weapon and yelled to warn the others. "Hey! Watch the knife!"

"Get offa me!" Becca growled, struggling against the man.

Rick disarmed Daryl, and Shane locked the man in a sleeper hold.

"Okay. Okay." Shane tried to calm him.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl yelled.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane retorted.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl grunted.

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked, squatting in front of Daryl.

"Mmm. Yeah." Daryl finally conceded.

Shane let him go, and T-Dog released Becca, who shot him a look. She walked over to Daryl and stood as close to him as possible. Didn't like or appreciate being handled.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." Rick tried explaining.

Becca scoffed and looked at Dale and Shane. "See? This shit is exactly why I told you to let me go with them. But instead, you said that they could "handle it". Does this look like they fucking handled it Deputy Dipshit?" she cursed at the dark-haired man.

She turned her attention to Rick. "And you. What the hell were you thinking? You left him up there alone, with no way to defend himself."

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog said, coming to the man's aid.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof… So, the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

"Hell, with all y'all!" Daryl yelled. "Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori urged.

"I'm going back." Rick said, decidedly.

Lori stormed off into the RV.

Becca looked up at Daryl and sighed. It looked like they were going into the city. Goddamn Dixons were gonna be the death of her.

AN:

Hey, everyone! It's Tiff here. I just wanted to say hi, and thank you for reading my story! I hope you're enjoying it, and I would love to get some feedback. (Please be gentle...) Again, thank you, and hope you like it!