After about thirty minutes, they were approaching the town. Daryl slowed down to pull over, and the SUV pulled up beside him.

"What's up?" Sasha asked after she rolled down the window.

"We'll take it slow through downtown to see if there's anyone around," Daryl said before pulling away slowly to ride towards the town.

Jess heard Sasha say something to the people in the car with her as they pulled away. As they entered the town, Jess kept her eyes on her surroundings. The town had been practically empty except for a few walkers, but it didn't mean that it hadn't been occupied since then. Once they made it through downtown with only a few walkers ambling around, Jess directed Daryl further down the road.

"Market's 'bout two miles down aways," she reported over the growl of the bike's engine.

When they finally reached the market, Daryl drove them around the building a couple of times to check the entrances and exits while the others waited by the road. When he came back around the front, he waved the other cars forward. The market seemed to be closed up tight, and there weren't any walkers around. Even the ones that had been in town were too slow to catch up with them anytime soon.

When Daryl came to a stop in front of the building, he waited for her to get off for several seconds before he turned his head to see why she wasn't moving. He felt her lips on the side of his neck and her arms tighten around him briefly before she let him go to climb off the bike. When he looked up at her, she was smiling down at him as he turned off his motorcycle. As much as he tried, he couldn't keep the small smile from showing for a fraction of a second while he got off the bike and grabbed his crossbow.

Before they could say anything, Sasha was already approaching ready to get to work.

"Ok Jess, what can you tell us about this place," Sasha asked. Jess really didn't know what to think about the woman leading yet. From what little she'd heard from Carol and Michonne, Daryl had seniority when it came to the group. He should be calling the shots, but it seemed he let her do most of the leading on the runs.

"I closed tha place up when I left it, 'n' it looked like it was still sealed up. So chances're high that it's still empty'a tha dead. Cain't say tha same 'bout tha livin' though," she confided.

"Okay. Jess, Daryl, Michonne, you're on point since the three of you have more experience in this kind of situation. The rest of us will follow you in after the all clear," Sasha ordered.

The three on point separated from the main group and walked up to the building. Michonne withdrew her sword, Daryl double checked his crossbow, and Jess notched an arrow as they approached. When they reached the front door, Daryl took the lead and Jess brought up the rear. Daryl looked back to make sure they were ready. After each woman nodded, he pushed open the door quietly, and they entered for their sweep of the building.

Just as Jess expected, more people had come through here. More supplies were missing than when she'd come in last, but there were still enough left for them to look through and take back. They checked each aisle and room quickly, with Daryl in the lead and Michonne and Jess on his flank, to find that the place was empty of the living and the dead.

"All clear," Michonne called out to the other group that had entered the building behind them.

Everyone quickly and silently searched through the building, loading up bags of supplies as they went. While everyone else was searching the shelves, Jess made her way to the registers. When Daryl noticed she wasn't among the others searching the aisles for supplies, he went looking for her and found her breaking into the case behind one of the registers. He raised his eyebrow when he realized that the case was where the cigarettes were kept. He watched in amusement as she pulled the plastic front off the enclosure, tossed it over the counter, then carefully searched the rows of packs for a specific brand. When she found the one she was looking for she let out a quiet triumphant noise. She pulled out a pack of Camel non filtered cigarettes and brought it up to her nose to inhale the stale scent.

"Well if I ain't ridin' a gravy train with biscuit wheels," she chuckled quietly to herself before she turned to see Daryl's ice blue eyes judging her. "What," she asked as she slipped the pack into her front pocket before reaching down to grab the last pack on the shelf for the other pocket, "girl's gotta have 'er vices."

"Just didn't figure you for the non filter type," he admitted honestly. It really didn't surprise him that she smoked, but he was surprised she would be able to handle the harshness of the non filters.

"Smoked cigars 'fore cigarettes so when I started 'em filters just took 'way tha harshness I liked," she explained as she grabbed a couple of lighters and slipped them into the front pocket of her jeans. "'N' it's not like I smoked all tha time either. Just when drinkin' really. But now I smoke 'em when I find 'em. Walker is likely to get me 'fore the cancer would."

She watched appreciatively as Daryl moved like a jungle cat up to the register before easily jumping it to land a foot away from her behind the counter. His eyes locked with her as he reached, their bodies almost touching, to grab something behind her. The energy of the situation they were in and the fact that she was a smoker was working as a huge turn on for him. Not to mention the ride down with her pressed against his back had really got him going.

"Damn, Jess," he whispered in a rare moment of seriousness as he stood over her, waiting for her reaction. He wanted to say more, but he was a man of few words. He knew Jess would understand what he was really trying to say.

The corners of her lips quirked up in a sexy smirk, but before she could respond, they heard someone clear their throat loudly a few feet away. Daryl slowly pulled a carton of Marlboro Red One Hundreds off the shelf from behind the cowgirl. He hopped back over the counter to go back outside, leaving Jess a little flushed and frustrated. When she looked over to see who had interrupted the moment, she was surprised to see Zach standing there with his arms crossed, snickering.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

Jess jumped back over the counter, less gracefully than Daryl had. She followed Daryl outside, but not before throwing a harsh glare at the younger man. Zach's chuckle followed Jess out the door as she caught back up with Daryl at his bike to wait for the others to finish gathering the listed supplies.

Daryl had already broke into the carton to pull out a pack when Jess caught up to him and was packing in the tobacco by tapping the ends on his palm. She set her bow down against the bike and pulled out her own pack for a cigarette. He pulled out his Zippo and took a long drag on the smoke to light it.

"I can respect a man that smokes Reds," she casually taunted him, pulling out one of the non filtered cigarettes. She was just about to pull out one of the lighters to light hers when the sound of a Zippo being open and lit again caused her to look up. She saw him holding the flame out for her to light her cigarette on. She smiled as she put the end of the cigarette in the flame and inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling the smoke, and he had to look away. For Daryl, there was just something incredibly sexy about a woman that smoked.

"Ya drive me crazy, woman," he commented while putting the lighter away, finally saying what he'd been thinking earlier.

"'N' ya thank I'm sane with yer sexy crossbow toting, blue-eyed ass around all tha time," she scoffed at him. He had to stop and look down at her to make sure he hadn't just imagined that. Out of all the time they spent together, Jess had never said anything to indicate that she was physically attracted to him. There were plenty of times that she'd showed it, though. Actually, hearing some of the things she liked about him for the first time came as a pretty big shock. So, she liked his eyes and his crossbow?

"What," she asked defensively at his surprised expression.

"Ya never said nothing before," he explained as he watched her take another drag off the smoke.

"I wuddn't be neckin' with ya er sharin' my bed if I didn't think ya's pretty as a pie supper, Daryl," Jess pointed out. She gave him a sultry look while her eyes roamed up and down his body. "'N' I love pie," she added with a slow lick of her lips.

"Christ," he gulped as he turned away from her. There was no hiding from her how she affected him. The least he could do was get away from her, so she couldn't keep teasing him like that.

Jess let out a low laugh as she pulled out both packs she'd picked up and tossed them into his saddlebag.

Everything about this woman was attractive, and her light teasing was tearing him up inside. He wanted nothing more than to turn her over his bike and take her right there. He told her he wanted to take things slow but apparently she wanted to speed things up. As much as he believed he wanted to make sure this relationship was slower and more meaningful than the others, she was making it hard on him. He was beginning to wonder how long he could hold out for her.

"Alright, pharmacy's next," Sasha called out as she got into the SUV.

The pharmacy ended up being the same as the market, easy and empty of walkers. The town was pretty far off the highways. The market and pharmacy were several blocks from main street, so most people passing through wouldn't have left the road to search for them.

The last stop was going to be the hardware store. However, Michonne informed them that they'd gotten everything on the list and didn't need to stop there unless anyone needed to.

When they got done with the pharmacy, they were packing up to leave when Daryl spoke up.

"Jess needs somethin' from there," he informed as he climbed on his bike.

"Lead the way," Sasha nodded with a wave of her hand.

When they pulled up to the hardware store on the outskirts of town, Daryl stopped the others from getting out of the truck.

"Jess and I got this. Should only take a minute," he insisted.

"Ya'll need anythang from 'ere?" Jess questioned while dismounting the bike behind Daryl.

"Nope, got everything on the list," Sasha affirmed through her open window as she buckled back up.

Jess nodded as she followed closely behind Daryl up to the building, and she couldn't help the uneasy feeling that came over her. Everything had gone smoothly so far, and she had this rising suspicion that something was up with this building. Leave it to Daryl to notice her unsure expression.

"What's up," he asked, pausing a few feet from the entrance to talk to her.

"Just chewin' my bit. Probably nothin' though," she admitted.

Daryl hadn't heard that expression before but it didn't mean he couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. He was feeling a bit uneasy as well.

Jess really needed a new bowstring, though, and an uneasy feeling wasn't enough to keep them from entering the store. They took their time, carefully looking in every nook and cranny for anything that might jump out at them.

However, it appeared that the store was empty, so Jess called it out.

"Clear," she yelled from her side of the store. Daryl's voice floated to her from the other side.

"We're good," he called.

The cowgirl let out a relieved sigh as she grabbed a bag and started grabbing supplies she needed. She heard Daryl rummaging on the other side of the store for something as she grabbed some nails. She then made her way over to the sporting goods section to look for a bowstring. It didn't surprise her to see they had some at one point, but they were out of stock now. However, they did have the wax string that was used to make them. Jess took several spools of the thread and tossed them into her bag. All she needed now was a long board, and she'd be able to make her own.

A sudden crash on the other side of the store followed by what sounded like a scuffle had her stopping short in the middle of one of the rows of shelves. She quickly pulled out an arrow from her quiver and notched it as she started sneaking down the aisle towards the sound. Jess was able to move through the store easily using the anti-theft mirrors that were high on the wall to see around the corners. When she looked up at the mirror for the last aisle, she saw Daryl standing in the middle of it. Behind him stood a man with a gun pointed at the back of the hunter's head, and her heart immediately started racing. However, she was able to keep calm enough to realise she needed to take out the man behind Daryl, and she saw an opportunity to do so.

Jess didn't hesitate to turn the corner to take a shot, but before she could shoot, she felt the cold steel of a gun pressed against the side of her head. Jess cursed herself as she realized she'd just been caught.

"Hey Richie, we got us a winner here," she heard a deep voice say from beside her.

The large man called Richie turned to see her while keeping his gun carefully trained on the back of Daryl's head. Jess felt chills run up her back as she saw the familiar look in the man's eyes. It was the same look the men that raped her had: void of humanity.

"Wow, this fucker's got one smoking piece of ass. Bet she's a great fuck," he concluded, noticing that she was armed to the teeth, "look at all them weapons."

"You touch her, and I'll rip your fucking heart out," Daryl hissed as he turned his head just enough to see what was going on. He wasn't going to do anything that might put Jess in more danger than she was already in, but he wasn't above threatening.

"Oh, I'm so scared," the big man sneered. "Disarm her," he ordered the man that had the gun to her head.

"I'll do whatever ya say, just don' hurt 'im," Jess pleaded as she dropped her bow, and the man next to her began to take her weapons. Jess's heart skipped a beat when the man stepped away from her, forgetting, or not knowing, to check her boot for her tactical knife.

"You mean like this," Richie asked before aiming his gun down and pulling the trigger.

The woman watched in horror as a bullet tore through Daryl's leg, and he fell over on his side in agony. Jess immediately tried to fight against her captor but he held tightly onto her braid. He was stronger than her and had expected her to fight back.

"Daryl!" Jess yelled as she fought against the large man. Richie had obviously been aiming for Daryl's leg so he would bleed out slowly. When the evil man noticed that Jess was fighting back, he raised his gun at the writhing man.

"Be a good girl or the next one goes in his brain," he grinned evilly at Jess as he passed her to leave. "Bring her," she heard him order from behind her.

"Jess," she heard Daryl growl as she saw him let go of the gushing wound in his leg to crawl after her. She was surprised that he was even able to move at that point. Her voice cracked and tears threatened as she was being pulled away from him.

"Daryl, don't. Please," she begged as she was led away. With as fast as he was losing blood, he didn't need to be moving around. The others could come and help him if he would just stay there and worry more about himself.

He finally looked up at her with glazed, fearful eyes. She forced a smirk at him, letting him know she wasn't going without a fight. Besides, if she could get them away from Daryl, she could fight back and signal the others that they were in trouble if they hadn't already caught on from the gunshot.

Daryl watched with blurry vision as Jess disappeared around the corner. He growled in anger, still trying to get to his feet, but he was slipping in his blood on the floor. He finally gave up trying to stand on his own, and crawled to the shelving for help. He had to do something.