Hi! I hope you guys like this chapter! I'm glad that the last one was okay. I know Merle is a total ass for not telling Andrea what happened but it will all fall into place eventually. I rarely do something unless there is some sort of plan behind it. Thank you all for reading! I have one more story to update for tonight and then I am taking a break for a few hours. I've been writing like mad! My brain hurts =)

Just a Girl

Days passed by quickly and seemed to run together while each individual carved out their own niche in the group. No one went out of their way to cause any kind of trouble. That didn't mean that trouble didn't arise on occasion. Carol couldn't help but notice how often she caught Merle and Rick glaring at each other across the dinner table. Or while lounging in the living room. Or while working on building more rooms on to the back of the house. It was a very tense situation when it came to those two men and she couldn't help but think that there was more to this than just old animosity. Another thing she noticed was how tense all of this tension made Andrea.

Annette was a godsend. She was able to feed everyone and did it in such a way that it didn't even seem like things were being rationed. There were so many of them that even though it seemed like they would be good on food for a long time, they still needed to keep a watch on how much food was being consumed. No more snacking or anything like that. It was three square meals a day. The ones that remembered how bad it had been before took those three meals gladly, thankful for what they had. None of the others said much about it but it was obvious they weren't happy when they had to tell their little ones that they couldn't have extra when they wanted it.

Carol was with the children, showing them where all of the feed was stored and exactly what and how much to feed the animals. That was going to be a chore that was strictly for them and they all seemed to be excited about the idea.

"Mom?" Sophia said from beside her.

Carol looked down, running her hand over Sophia's hair with a smile. "What?" The other kids went on ahead of them.

"Are you and Daryl planning on leaving?" She looked up, her eyes worried.

Carol put an arm around her shoulders and met her eyes. "I don't know, honey. But if we do we'll be alright out there. We know how to handle ourselves." She instantly felt guilty. She needed to talk to Daryl about it again. He was doing the same thing that Rick had done in the beginning. He was taking on everything himself like he was responsible for all of them and she saw what that had done to Rick. She didn't want that happening to Daryl. And she didn't want Sophia to worry about them like that.

"I don't want you guys going out there," Sophia said, looking down.

Carol made a decision then. Maybe she was out of line but she didn't care at the moment. "Sophia, if you are scared we won't come back then we won't go. Neither of us will."

Sophia looked up, her large eyes hopeful. "Do you really think Daryl will go for that?"

Carol thought about it for a second before answering. Daryl had a weak spot for Sophia. If Carol couldn't get through to him then she knew that Sophia could. He cared about them both. He treated the girl like she was his own blood. She was as much of a daughter to him as any kid ever could be and if need be, she would use that. She didn't want to leave the safety of the farm. She didn't want him to leave either. But this person that Sophia saw needed to be stopped. Carol just hadn't figured out how to go about doing that yet. "I'm not sure. But maybe between the two of us, we can figure out a way to make him see reason. You would probably have more luck than me. He has a soft spot for you."

"Ya think so, huh?"

Carol and Sophia both jumped and turned at the same time. Daryl was standing there, arms crossed over his chest. He raised his eyebrows at the guilty look that Carol knew she was now wearing. He had caught her trying to talk her daughter into guilting him into not leaving.

"I have to go help Mia," Sophia said quickly as she tried to bolt. He grabbed her by the back of the shirt, giving her a swift jerk so she was pulled back against his legs.

"Not so fast," he grumbled, turning her around so she had no choice but to look at him.

"It was mom's idea," Sophia blurted, throwing Carol an apologetic look at the same time she was throwing her under the bus.

He tilted her chin up, blue eyes narrowing as he knelt down in front of her. "You scared somethin' is gonna happen to us out there?" He asked, all joking gone from his voice.

Sophia nodded, dropping her head and looking at her feet.

"You ain't gotta look down when you got somethin' to say to me, kid. You got me?" He asked as he lifted her chin with a finger, "You got somethin' to say to somebody you look the sumbitch right in the eye and say what's in your head. You wanna be a Dixon?"

Sophia, wide eyed, nodded.

"Dixons ain't pussies that look at the ground, girl. A Dixon looks a man right in the eye before he puts a bolt in him."

Sophia nodded again.

"Well?" Daryl asked, standing up straight.

"Well what?" Sophia asked, sounding a bit in awe.

"What do you think about me and your mama goin' out there and huntin' this asshole down?"

Sophia squared her shoulders. "I think you'd be an idiot to do it. It would be different if all you had to worry about was yourself or each other but you don't. You have me and you would be a real asshole to go out there and get yourself killed." She swallowed hard. "How was that?"

He nodded. "That was okay, I spose. You coulda been a little louder but it'll do for now."

"So? Are you gonna go anyway?" She asked, keeping her gaze on his.

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. Carol was pretty much speechless as she watched them together. She was even more speechless when he finally answered Sophia. "No."

Carol felt her eyes widen.

Sophia blinked and then shook her head like she didn't hear him right. "What?"

"If us goin' out there is gonna put a burr in your ass then I'll figure out somethin' else." He shoved his hands in his pockets, watching Sophia carefully.

"You'd do that for me?"

"Would you do it for me?" He countered.

She nodded. "I would."

"There ya go then. Whatever the fuck you got goin' on matters. You just gotta speak your mind. Ain't nobody changed the world by keepin' their mouths shut."

She nodded.

"Now go on and stop slackin' on your chores. You can be a Dixon but ya can't be Merle. He's a lazy fucker."

She grinned and then took off towards the barn.

Daryl waited until she was inside before he turned those intense blue eyes on Carol. She studied him silently for a few long seconds. He looked so young, his shirt missing the sleeves, his pants a little too big, scuffed up boots toeing the dirt. She grinned, her heart soaring. The way he was with Sophia amazed her. It made her a little sad that Sophia was just now learning that not all men meant harm. Daryl, though a bit brash, was a hell of a role model.

"Did you mean that?" She asked.

"I look like a liar to you?" He adjusted the bow strap and took a few steps towards her.

She shook her head. They hadn't discussed leaving since the night she had cussed at him. He may have thought it was funny but she really had felt bad for saying what she had said. "I just thought that you were hell bent on looking for this man."

He stopped just short of their bodies touching. "I am. But I sure as hell ain't the only person here that can look, now am I? If she don't want me to go then I ain't gonna go."

She tilted her head, her gaze taking in the sheen of sweat on his skin. "I didn't want you to go."

He snorted and gave her a look. "But you're a spaz. Sophia's got a good head on her shoulders."

"You're an ass," she laughed and then tried to step away but he caught her by the wrist. Before she knew what he was doing he was leading her back towards the woods. "What are we doing?"

He glanced back at her but didn't answer until they were in the trees. "I think I'm gonna call for a group meetin' tonight. Gather up a few men, send'em out with enough fire and food for a few days. We gotta find this guy," he said as he finally turned to face her.

"You think that's a good idea?" She asked, not doubting him but wondering how many of the others will. He looked away, behind him. She picked up on his nervousness right away.

"I'm gonna go out there too. Just not at first. I got somethin' to do first."

Her stomach dropped. "You just lied to her?"

He finally met her eyes and then shook his head. "I didn't lie. I ain't goin' out there. Not yet."

"Then when are we going?" She asked, unable to hide her disappointment

He ran a hand over the back of his neck but he kept his eyes on hers. "When I get her ready to go with us."

She frowned. "Who?"

"Sophia."

~H~

Shane nearly fell on his face for the third time since he had taken off running. He had ran into a road block on his way back to the farm. He should have just stayed there to begin with but all that stuff they had been telling him about the walking dead and a little girls premonitions had really creeped him out. And if it was true, just maybe he could save others instead of hiding out like the rest of them. He knew now he had been a damn idiot.

Now he wasn't even sure where the hell the farm was. He had spent the night in the woods and he hadn't seen or heard one of those monsters since yesterday afternoon but he was desperate for a drink of water and he was really starting to worry that he was walking around in circles in the woods.

This was total bullshit. He was strong and he was capable. He was the type of guy that saved other people from situations like this. Not now. Now he was about to sit right down on his ass and wait for someone to happen along to lead him out of the woods.

A sound up ahead had him pulling a rifle from the bag of guns he had taken from the station. He hadn't used any guns yet because he wanted to keep himself under the radar of those things but he was too tired and too thirsty to fight with the knife he had been using. He took a few steps towards the sound and then took a position behind a tree. It was heading towards him, whatever it was, and it sounded large. As soon as it stepped into his line of sight he nearly pulled the trigger. That was until he saw the eyes.

It was a large black man with a knit cap on his head, despite the heat. When he saw Shane his arms went up instantly. In one hand he held a bloody hammer. Any other time Shane would have went in to subdue a guy that size holding an obvious weapon like that, but not now. He wasn't a law man now. He was Shane Walsh. The dumb ass that got himself lost in the woods. And this guy didn't look like he posed any kind of threat.

Shane lowered the gun. "You lost too?"

The other man lowered his arms to his side and then glanced behind him, motioning with his head for someone, or something, to come on over. When he looked at Shane again he shook his head. "No. Not lost really. Can a man even be lost anymore? There really isn't anywhere to go, is there?" He offered Shane a humorless smile.

"I don't suppose there is," Shane said as he ran a hand over his head. "I was on the road and got chased off by a heard of those things. Been wonderin' around like an idiot ever since." He didn't know this man, or anyone he might be traveling with so he wasn't about to give up that there was indeed someplace to go.

"Tyreese," the man said as he thrust a large hand towards Shane.

"Shane Walsh," he muttered as he shook the man's hand. "Are you with a group?"

"Just me," a woman said as she stepped around the tree he was now leaning against. She was beautiful. Soft brown eyes studied him and then she smiled. "I'm Sasha."

He shook her hand as well, trying not to blatantly check her out since the man she was with looked like he could go from kind to dangerous in the blink of an eye. "Nice to meet you," he said quickly.

As she studied him her smile dimmed and she looked up at the other man worriedly. "Ty, do we still have a few waters to spare. He looks a little rough around the edges."

Tyresse nodded and pulled his bag around, unzipping it quickly and then rummaging through it while Shane took a chance and studied the girl again. He didn't even think about her anymore after the bottle of water was thrust into his face. He unscrewed the cap and chugged the bottle quickly, his parched throat instantly feeling better.

The big man cleared his throat. "Look, this isn't a place for any man to be out on his own anymore. If you'd like you can travel with us. We're looking for..." His voice trailed off.

Sasha touched the big man's arm and then looked at Shane sadly. "We're looking for anything. We were thinking about Atlanta. There has to be a safe haven somewhere. But my brother's right. You need people to have your back so you can come with us if you'd like."

Shane studied them for a few long seconds before he finally came to a decision. They both looked to be okay. They surely didn't want to cause any harm. They were just afraid and alone and looking for a place to be safe. Shane could understand that. It still made him a little nervous. From all that craziness that Carol had been talking, all of them had been a group in another life or something. Would they accept these two strangers? But he couldn't just send them on their way.

"Look," he said as he ran a nervous hand through his hair. "There's a place. A safe place that I can take you too but I need to find the road. I've been lost in here since yesterday. There's food and shelter and people. Good people. He thought about Daryl and Merle Dixon and hoped that he was telling these people the truth. But Rick, even though he had been acting off his rocker for a while now, was a good judge of character. Surely he wouldn't have his wife and son in the mix with dangerous men.

"You mean something like one of the safe zones the military set up?" Sasha asked, glancing between him and her brother.

Shane shook his head. He saw what the military was doing to people. He saw them gun down men and women in the streets. He had wished then that he had kept his ass on that farm. "No. It's nothin' like that. Just people that banded together. There's a wall around the property so none of those things can get in. There's women and children there. It's a good place. I just need to find it."

Sasha and Tyreese shared a look. It hadn't occurred to him until then that maybe they didn't trust him and he couldn't blame them for it.

"You don't have to go with me. But if that offer still stands to tag along with you two then I would appreciate it. At least until we found the road."

Sasha nodded. "We'll go with you."

Shane felt relieved that they were willing to give the farm a shot. He was sure that the rest of the group would be okay with him bringing in a few more people. They both seemed capable of handling weapons and they would probably be a real asset to the group.

~H~

Daryl watched as her eyes grew hard and he knew, just as he suspected, that she was going to fight this with everything in her.

"Sophia? You think it would be a good idea to take her away from here to help you hunt down some psychopath?" The anger and disbelief was clear in her voice. He knew where she was coming from. When the idea first crossed his mind he had dismissed it as well. But the more he thought about it the more he thought that maybe he was onto something. As soon as he had let the idea sink in he had watched Sophia closely. Surely if something bad would happen as a result of him taking her away from the walls of the farm then she would see that happen and she could warn them against it.

"You know that I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt her. You know I care about her too much to let somethin' bad happen," he said quickly, trying to defuse her sudden anger.

"Five minutes ago I would have agreed with you," she said, arms crossing over her chest and eyes growing harder. They weren't the soft blues he had been gazing into a few minutes ago. Now they were hard and cold as ice.

He took a step closer, his hands going around her upper arms and his eyes boring into hers. "I wouldn't let nothin' happen to her," he said in a low voice. He wasn't angry with her. He didn't blame her for feeling this way.

"Daryl, things happen. Do you really think I wanted her to disappear into the woods and then come out a walker? Do you think I didn't tell myself every day that I was going to protect her? That I would never let anything happen to her? Things just happen. You of all people know that."

He needed to convince her that this was the right thing to do. Was it dangerous? Of course it was. But he knew three very strong people that wouldn't let anything happen to her out there. The only three people in the world that he would trust Sophia's life with. Himself, his brother, and Carol. T-dog and Andrea were also on the list of people he wanted to take once the time came for them to leave. Nothing would happen to her. He just had to convince Carol that that was true. "I can teach her to fight. Back then, when those walkers came after her, the only thing she knew to do was run away. It was fight or flight and the girl didn't have no damn fight in her. She ain't that girl no more. You ain't the same type of mama as you was then and I can show her how."

Carol shook her head, the anger in her eyes softening to fear. It caused his chest to tighten. "She's just a girl."

He shook his head and was grateful when she uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around him. "You're wrong. I don't think we got a clue how goddamn strong she is. The shit she's had to see. I don't think I could ever come back from that. But she does. She comes back stronger every time. She can do this and with Me and Merle and you with her, she'll be fine. I ain't lettin' that son of a bitch take all this from us. From her. This is her home and we're all the family she's ever gonna have. If we don't do somethin' to stop him now then he's gonna take it all and she's gonna watch it all burn to the ground." He didn't think he had ever talked so much in his life but he needed her to understand. He needed her to be okay with this.

Their eyes met in a battle where words had no place. He watched her falter and then her gaze dropped to the ground where their feet were almost touching. "Promise me right now that nothing will happen to her," she whispered before looking up and meeting his eyes once more.

"I promise. Nothin' is gonna happen to her. We'll make sure this time. If somethin' was gonna happen to her then she'd see it happen. She woulda seen it before now."

Carol nodded and laced her fingers through his. He could feel her hand shaking in his own. He didn't say anything else though. He would let her think about it, just like he had. This was their best bet in finding the guy and stopping the madness that he would reign down on them all. He knew it in his gut.