"You know how to use that thing?"

She growled. An actual growl! It must have been the hundredth time she heard the question that day; from the curious children, the worried Carol, surprised Dale and unconvinced Shane, every single person in camp eyed her bow with interest. Even Merle cracked a joke about her accidentally hitting his hear with an arrow while Lori interrupted Victoria's 'bath' in the river to lecture her about leaving sharp objects where children could get them. But when she turned and met Daryl's eyes she saw something else. He seemed half bored to death, so curiosity was not the case with him. He was after something.

"Yes?" She asked tentatively, unsure of his motives. Not having yet the occasion to try out the bow, she didn't want to give anyone, especially herself, false hope. She's been good in classes, but it was for fun back then and the instructor always helped when she was doing something wrong. She knew Daryl had a crossbow, and knew he was god with it - a dozen dead squirrels attesting to that at their last dinner. And while the two weapons were different, the thought of asking him to show her a thing or two, if she didn't get the hang of it, might have crossed her mind.

"Any good at trackin'?"

"Uhh, I'd get lost in the forest if that's what you're asking."

"Tsk."

"But I'm a fast learner." She added quickly. She wasn't sure if he was asking her to go hunt for food in his place or asking her to join him, but no way in hell would she venture alone in the forest. Even without the whole killer corpses roaming around, she was never an outdoors kind of gal. Naturally, never spending more than a two hour picnic in the 'wild', she had no idea how to make her way around a bunch of almost identical trees. She registered it as a good skill to know those days, so she seized the opportunity to learn it.

"Nah, Merle and I can handle the huntin'."

"Please. Pretty please? I'll be quiet and follow every instruction." He considered it for a moment, eyes darting from the woman to the minivan behind her. Thomas's gurgling and random words could be heard from it, probably trying to get his sister's attention. When his eyes narrowed in what seemed like annoyance she was sure he was going to turn her down.

"Fine. We leave at first light."

"Thank you, Daryl." Her smile must have split her face in two, but she couldn't care less. She was excited, she liked learning new things and tracking was such a bad ass skill to add to her 'resume'.

"Stop grinning like a love struck schoolgirl."

"What?"

"You look stupid."

"Why, thank you. What a lovely thing to say."

"Whatever. Tommy's finally asleep, good job with that."

"That's not fair…"

"The world ended, nothing is fair anymore. Goodnight, aunt V." The girl shut the door to the car as silently as possible, thought Victoria guessed she wanted nothing more than to slam it shut.

Victoria could do nothing more than shake her head and enter the freaking tent. She hated it with a burning passion. The previous night had been a nightmare and she suspected this one was not going to be any different. She always had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places, but outdoors was a whole new level of fucked up. How could people sleep in there? Not mentioning the hard ground and constant chill, the notion that she was supposed to go unconscious while protected by nothing more than a piece of neatly arranged cloth baffled her. Even without the walkers, any animal, snake, insect, could find its way inside and you'd never even know what hit you. It was insane!

With no chances of falling asleep, her mind was left to wonder. No pretty thoughts visited her that night. Images of her friend and her husband filled her already tired brain. The gravity of the situation was looming over her head, but she tried to push it away. She had to! Otherwise she wasn't sure she could face the world in the morning.

Silent tears started streaming down the sides of her face. Victoria knew she was not qualified to raise the two children. She didn't plan to. All she had to do was keep them alive long enough to deliver them to remaining family members. They had two real aunts and a bunch of grandparents. Some of them were bound to be still alive and willing to take them in. It didn't stop her from thinking she should be dead and Mia should be there with her children. Even if Victoria could manage to take them to their family, they'd still be orphans. Grandparents or not.

There was also this nagging thought that things were not going to get better, they were only going to get worse. Though they only saw two more walkers, deep in the forest, no one came for the survivors. The radio plaid the same message on a loop: go to Atlanta for evacuation. She and Glenn were going back there in a day or two to see if there were any military left in the city. If they were evacuating the living, thing were going to be fine. If not, she didn't know. The uncertainty of everything cared her the most. She wanted to hope, but in the same time she didn't want to get her hopes up only to have them crushed later.

She was horrified of the concept of having to take care of the children. More than facing the dead. She loved them, but she was not out for this shit. She planned on having some of her own, but later in life, after she saw the world and had fun and lived life to its fullest. More so, if anything happened to the two because of her foolishness, she'd never forgive herself. Their faces would haunt her from beyond the grave and probably in the afterlife too.

It was a selfish thought, really. But she was a selfish woman. She was an only child, she hated sharing anything from food to her spot on the couch. She even dreaded her friends having other friends, but realized that was not entirely normal. She was possessive and childish and in no way able to be responsible for children, especially two year olds. She didn't even know what to do with Tommy when she held him.

When the first rays of sunlight crept through the gaps in the tents 'door', she cursed. She succeeded in not sleeping for the second night in a row. And while she napped during the day, the two hour shut eye hadn't really hit the spot. She changed her t-shirt, opting for a plain black one and put her boots back on. When she emerged from her tent, bow and arrows on her shoulder, Daryl was approaching with calculated steps.

"Ya ready?"

"Good morning to you, too." He frowned at her and she mentally slapped herself. Making him change his mind before they even departed was not a good plan. "I'm… ready." He inspected her, blue eyes still narrowed and seemingly annoyed, but nodded and turned towards the tree line. Passing Merle's tent, his groggy voice broke the morning silence.

"You lovebirds have fun." She heard Daryl growl something under his breath while she let out a breath. How did he stand Merle's company 24/7? Victoria liked Merle, but in small doses. His younger brother had to put up with him all the time. Lost in thought she hadn't noticed the man before her stop and collided with his back. He turned to her and a chill ran down her spine. He was right to be angry. She promised to be a perfect student and there she was messing things before they even started. She opened her mouth to speak, but a rustling noise beat her to it. A walker had spotted them and was lethargically coming for them. She was almost scared.

"Let's see if you can hit it with that lil'bow." He pointed to the walking corpse and folded his arms. She gulped. This was it. If she didn't hit the mark, he wasn't going to show her anything, probably sent her ass back to camp. She couldn't have any of that.

Victoria placed the first arrow and fired it without thinking much about the mechanics. It missed its head by a mere inch, but missed it nevertheless. She took a long breath and fired again, this time missing completely. The third arrow stuck into its neck. The next one met the creature's forehead, rendering it motionless on the ground. But it wasn't one hers.

Daryl lowered his now empty crossbow and went to retrieve the arrows. She sighed. It was definitely not like riding a bike. It didn't help that the target was moving and swaying like a leaf in the wind.

"I'm sorry…"

"Ya ain't concentratin'."

"Sorry… I'm a bit tired. Can't seem to fall asleep in that stupid tent." She knew he didn't give a rat's ass about her excuses. He looked like a man who wanted to see the results, not empty words.

"You gotta put your shit together if you wanna survive this."

"I know. I just…" She shook her head before she could apologies again. He handed her the arrows she fired and she sighed again. "Thanks. I'll leave you to it."

"Where ya think you're going?"

"Um, I just assumed…"

"You assumed wrong. Now get back here and listen closely." If she weren't so sleepy, she would've made a little happy dance. He was giving her a chance despite her obvious lack of skill. She wished they could try again tomorrow instead of right then, but she took whatever life gave her. Willing herself to focus on his words, her eyes followed his outstretched finger.

"See that hoof print over there?" At first all she could see was dirt and fallen leaves. Some trampled grass and- Oh, yeah, it sort of looked like a print. She nodded and he continued to explain different things, like the direction the prints were facing, the depth they left on the ground and the effect the passing animal had on the upper foliage: fallen green leaves and broken lower branches. It was fascinating, really was. And she thought she understood what he was saying. But if she laid her head down for a second she was certain she could fall asleep. For a couple of minutes until the nightmares woke her.

Still, she tried her best. Following in his footstep was challenging as she kept spacing out and missing the exact spot. But he didn't complain. Much. He grumbled under his breath and shook his head. Even told her a couple more times to concentrate. He didn't let her fire any more arrows, taking the task of catching the squirrels and rabbits they crossed alone.

"You keep practicin'."

"Yeah, I will."

"Ya ain't half bad."

"I missed every time."

"Nah, thought you'd to hold the bow wrong, so did better than expected." Victoria couldn't help but chuckle at that. There was a ghost of a smile on his face, but it left so fast it could have been her tired eyes playing tricks. As her laugh died down, she better analyzed the information.

"You offered to teach me anyway. Why?"

"Gotta have another hunter around."

"There's you and Merle. I don't think I can compare to you guys." She considered for a moment before asking. "Are you planning to leave or something?"

"Why'd you ask that?"

"I don't know… I guess it seems like you want someone to replace you."

"Maybe I'm done huntin' for you people."

"Oh." Victoria was almost sure that was not the case. Almost. She didn't know the guy and if he was anything like his brother, his intentions were questionable at the least. She guessed they didn't look like the 'murdering you in your sleep' types, but she wouldn't trust them with her life either.

Daryl looked like the proud type, though, so she dubbed his annoyance towards the subject to the fact that he didn't want to admit he needed help hunting. Maybe not help, but a well deserved rest. Everyone was lying around camp while he was out in the woods, hunting dinner. She understood how that sucked and thought most of the camp would, too. There was no need to be so skittish about it.

It was silent from there on. Victoria didn't exactly mind. She loved silence. And it was actually indicated in the current situation: tracking animals though a walker infested forest. But she felt they left things in a weird place. She eyed his back, trying to make sense of the invisible things he was following. Sometimes she saw the signs: a print, a mark in the grass. Other times she was sure he was just going with the flow. But new hoof came up engraved in mud. Daryl looked like he knew what he was doing, like he was born with that crossbow in hand and spent his childhood tracking the family pets. He stepped without a sound; the elves of Middle-earth couldn't hold a candle to him. It was quite a sight actually, the way his muscled would flex when he pulled the spring to replace an arrow, the way he always hit his mark. She couldn't phantom why he needed her to learn something he excelled at, but it made her want to learn even more.

"I'll get the hang of this, okay?"

"Shh." He actually shushed her! She wanted to protest, thinking he dismissed her because he didn't care anymore if she learned to track or not, but rustling was heard from up ahead. He signaled her with a jerk of his hand to follow quietly in his steps. In her sleep deprived mind, she thought this was the moment in the movie when she'd get herself or him killed. Probably him, since the guy usually takes one for the damsel. So she gave her all to follow him like he taught her. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she saw it was only the wild boar they were following. She exhaled as slowly as she could, not wanting to do any more mistakes. Mere seconds later Daryl's arrow stayed true to its mark and the animal was dead.

"Got ourselves some bacon tonight." She smiled the man man's chipper attitude, but almost gagged when he cut the thing open.

"Wha-"

"You wanna carry it with or without the extra pounds?" She pursed her lips and considered for a moment. Did she want the animal to drip blood all over the place or carry a heavier pig? Wait? Was he seriously making her carry the boar? It looked like a piglet, but she could barely lift Thomas and he was way smaller than the animal. "Gonna help or what?"

She looked up to Daryl dragging the boar towards camp. She saw the animals insides discarded on the ground and had to swallow hard to steady herself. Hurrying to catch up, she took the hind legs and lifted. It wasn't that bad. She could hold like this for maybe, who knew, another minute or two? She sighed and tightened her grip. Even if she was going to disappoint him with her upper body strength too, at least she would have given her best.

By the time they got close to camp, her hands hurt like hell. But she be damned if she let go. She almost cried out with relief when the trees thinned out and she saw cars. They took the boar to the small table where Daryl skinned his squirrels and dumped it on the ground with a thud. People were gathering around, congratulating and expressing their delight, some women already starting the task of preparing it. But Victoria only heard light ringing in her ears. Her hands trembled lightly and she tried to shake the numbness off.

"Hey." She lifted her eyes to Daryl's and saw something akin to pity in his blue orbs. "You did good out there, kid." His calloused hand patted her on the shoulder before he retreated to his tent. His gesture left her feeling all giddy on the inside. It reminded her of a time in school when her favorite teacher praised her for her outstanding work. She smiled, thinking the whole endeavor wasn't for naught. Maybe she could, some day, become a hunter.

Wait a second! Had he just called her 'kid'? Oh, the nerve on him… If she didn't fear she's fall asleep while talking, she would have given him a piece of her mind. Instead, she entered her tent and crashed on the sleeping bed, still dirty from trekking the whole day though the forest. The sun was setting, but light was still present. She could hear chatter from the group. Victoria fell asleep thinking of how she hadn't been called 'kid' since high school. People called her 'mam' or 'Mrs.' at her work place. And thought she still had a childish demeanor, she was not that young. Daryl was a few years older than her at most. Calling her 'kid' felt like he didn't mean the small praise he'd given her. Like it had been a joke to him.

She had weird dreams that night: of school and her parents scolding her to study more, of her colleagues at the embassy and their last work trip, of her nerdy friends and their apocalypse plans. She thought she heard Glenn's voice calling her to eat at some point, but wasn't sure if it was only in her dream, or it actually happened. Regardless, she slept through the entire night like a log. If the word come to an end and she would have slept right trough it.

Thank you all who fav/followed/reviewed. You're awesome. ^_^

I have no hunting expertise... so if I ever write anything that is utterly wrong, let me know..

There's gonna be some Daryl moments in every chapter from here on. Let me know if he's OOC or just random... O_o

As a side note, I feel like I'm making Victoria an awful person :))) That's really not my intention...