A/N: Aww, thanks for all the wonderful reviews, you guys! You're the best!

Girlie

Part 2

Knock. Raise. Level. Pull. Sight. Release. Repeat. Over and Over. My arm wasn't hurting anymore. My pride was pretty sore, still. It had been a week at least after "the argument" as I was calling it now. Daryl hadn't tried to provoke me any more. He hadn't made a move. He sat next to me at dinner once and he's stopped apparently caring if I catch him looking at me but that's it. Oh well. I still had my bow and that's how I blew off steam. Practicing for hours.

I had just decided to finish for the day. It was late afternoon and the yip of a coyote fairly close caused me to send an arrow flying over the target and into the thick grass behind. I had to go get it. No sense in wasting arrows, that was just ignorant. I started off in the direction of the arrow, looking carefully at the ground and the grass to try to find it. The bright yellow fletching made it a bit easier to see in the green and brown but not my much in the afternoon light. My head down, focused on the arrow, I didn't see the walker coming at me from my right.

It was about forty foot away when it let out a high-pitched cry that made chills run down my spine. Horrible sound. Horrible sight when I looked up. The fact that it was so close didn't scare me as much as what it was. A kid. A boy about ten or eleven. It had a blue polo shirt on with one of those little patches sewn on the chest and a pair of khaki pants. Like he'd just come from the quaint local private school. It's jaw bone was exposed from a bite on the neck and there was blood and mud caked on his shirt and the pants. There was a huge bite on the front of his shoulder too and half the top of his arm was missing, making his backpack hang precariously to one side and causing him to lean, even more off-balanced than most walkers.

He was so damn young. I looked at him and took a couple steps backwards as he moved his head up, taking in my scent and moaning again. Short-cropped blonde hair that was still kinda curly, even matted with blood and leaves. He reminded me of Carl. This is what could happen to Carl. This is what did happen to Carol's little girl. This is what could happen to any kid.

At that point, as he continued to come towards me, picking up speed as he no doubt could smell me and now see me, I knew what I had to do. My hands were shaking as I drew an arrow from the narrow case on my hip. I didn't think I could do it. This was a kid. I kept walking backwards, hoping that something would happen, but he kept coming. I planted my back foot and raised the bow, closing my eyes as I sent the arrow flying. I knew I'd aimed for his heart and not his head. I just couldn't do it. The arrow went almost through him and he didn't stop. Not a step. He just kinda' jerked sideways a bit and let out a growl...and he kept coming.

The next arrow I pulled from the quiver with my shaking hand didn't miss. It wasn't aimed wrong. It had to go where it had to go. It hit him straight through the eye socket with a sickening squish, causing him to fall backwards. A second later, I fell to my knees, my bow clattering to the ground, my hands over my mouth to muffle a scream that was both terror and remorse. I sat there motionless until a couple minutes later, I was being hauled up by the arms and pulled backwards. Stumbling, I turned as Daryl grabbed me and pulled me to him.

"The HELL?" he said. He pushed me roughly to arm's length. "You bit? Did it scratch ya? Lemme see." He pawed at my shirt as I slapped his hands away.

"Stop it. Jesus! Just stop. I'm ok!" I said, my voice shaky. "It's dead."

He looked at me sternly and held up two fingers, shaking them. "What?" I said. "It's dead."

"Took ya' two tries. TWO!" he snapped. "Yer' better 'n that. What tha' hell 'r ya' thinkin'?"

I inhaled and stopped, not being able to exhale, looking from one of his eyes to the other. "I." I stopped to swallow and exhale slowly. "I panicked. He's just a...he was just a kid. I kept thinking about Carl. This could be Carl."

"He'd a bit ya'. Look how close he is." Daryl pushed me to the side to see around him and look at the walker. "Ya' can't think like that."

"I know. I know." I looked at him, biting my lip. "It was hard, Daryl. Shootin' a little kid in the face was..." my voice cracked a little and I closed my eyes briefly. "...so hard."

"Me havin' to shoot ya' when ya' turned would a' been harder." he said loudly, shaking me by the shoulders harshly. His eyes were dark, now, glaring. "Don't ever be soft again. Not with walkers. Ya' take 'em out first shot. Ya' hear? First shot!"

I nodded my head quickly and looked down at my feet as he loosened his vice-grip on my arms. Daryl pulled me towards him, leaned in and planted a hard kiss, so hard I had to fight my knees not to buckle. It was one of those emotional-combo-plate kisses. A smorgasbord of anger, fright, concern, relief, with a little desire mixed in. The kind of kiss that just comes out of nowhere and you can't take back, you don't want to take back, but if you're challenged you blame it on the heat of the moment. Least I thought that's what it probably was, given the circumstances. It lasted a lifetime in a second and made me totally forget about the walker until Daryl's rough lips drug across mine and he stepped back.

"Ya' ok?" he said, trying to get his breathing under control and calm down himself.

"Yeah. I'm ok. Daryl, we gotta' do something with the body. We can't leave it here. We can't let Carol see it. Or Lori either. They don't need to know about this." I noticed Daryl's hands had settled from my arms to my hips. He ran one hand through his hair from front to back.

"Can ya' walk back ta' camp?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Get a couple a' tha' guys 'n shovels without lettin' on like anything's wrong. We'll bury this thing quick. Don't let tha' women know."

I nodded and turned, running towards camp ahead of the quickly-falling twilight.

XXXXX

T-Dog and Shane were playing cards with Glenn at the table. I sauntered up to T-Dog from behind and put my arms around him, running my hands suggestively across his shoulders and down his massive arms. I leaned over to his ear and whispered. "I need you. I need you now." Shane was sitting closer than Glenn and he heard instantly, spitting out his toothpick and sucking a deep breath in dramatically. "Whoo-wheee!" he hissed, grinning from ear to ear.

T-Dog froze for a second and then turned around slowly on the bench. "Right now." I said quietly, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from the front of his t-shirt. I looked to Shane and turned my head. "Bring your friend..." I purred. Shane blinked and looked at me blankly, his jaw dropping. "...and two shovels." I said it just loud enough for Shane and T to hear. I glanced up to check out where Carol and Lori were. Lori was no where to be seen, probably laying down in her tent, and Carol was sitting in a lawn chair, folding clothes while she kept an eye something simmering in a pot on the fire. I shot a glance between T-dog and Shane and mouthed the word "Walker." Shane nodded. "Young." I mouthed, looking again up towards Carol's direction.

"Oh, Baby, I'm feeling that!" T-Dog said, smiling from ear to ear. That's my boy, I thought as Glenn cleared his throat loudly and shifted in his seat. I looked over T-Dog's shoulder and shook my head slowly. He knew something was up, but from where he was, he didn't see what I had mouthed to T and Shane.

"I gotta hit the head." Shane announced loudly, standing up and stretching.

I looked at Glenn and let loose of T-dog. Poor Glenn was sitting there, clueless, a bewildered look on his face that practically begged for somebody to let him in on the goings-on. T-Dog stood up and left the table. I moved to Glenn and put my arms around him. "Aw, Glenn, that's the sweetest thing anybody's ever said to me." I said loudly and gave him a big hug, as Carol looked in our direction, smiled wistfully and then returned to her laundry.

"Walker in the woods. Little kid." I whispered in his ear as I hugged him tightly. "Don't tell Carol. Keep her occupied. We're going to go bury it."

Glenn grinned and nodded his head. "You're welcome." he said as I stood up and patted his arm a couple times for show.

I walked back towards the woods, seeing T-Dog exit the supply tent with two shovels. I arrived to find Shane already there, surveying the remains. "Damn close to camp." he said quietly as T-Dog stepped up, shovel in each hand. He threw one to Shane and looked at Daryl. "Over there?"

Daryl nodded and Shane handed me the shovel, passing it to me as they each took an leg and dragged the body a few yards further out. My stomach lurched as it wobbled and bobbled along the ground, catching on sticks and clumps of weeds. I took a deep breath and walked over to where they finally came to a stop. Pitching the shovel tip into the dirt, I stepped on the foot rest and had it buried halfway in when the hands pulled me back off the shovel carefully.

"No. We got this." the voice drawled softly.

"I killed it. I can do this." I said calmly. Shane shot T-Dog a quizzical look. I guess they assumed Daryl had dispatched the walker.

"Know that, but ya' ain't gonna. We got this." Daryl said, squeezing my arms gently. I let the shovel handle move to the side and he caught it with a hand. He motioned with his head for me to move aside and the shovel made a harsh, metal-ly ka-chink sound as it scraped a rock and plunged into the dirt. The guys switched off shoveling until the hole was deep enough that scavengers wouldn't be a problem. Nobody said much of anything. Everyone knew that this would have been a cruel reminder of events of the distant past and it was better just to bury it deep and keep quiet. Literally.

XXXXX

Daryl sat a plate of food down in front of me and I looked up just in time to see Lori elbow Rick in the side, throwing him a sideways glance. What she thought she was seeing, I don't know. What it really was, I don't know ether. He'd been acting different since I shot the walker and they buried it. Not weird. Not uncomfortable. Just, different.

"Thanks." I said quietly as he sat down next to me. Under the table, his booted foot knocked into mine and he left it there, resting against my foot. Like I said, different. He would have never in a million years done that before with the foot. He grunted and began eating the stew that Carol had put together with a couple of rabbits that Daryl had bagged and some canned vegetables.

"So, tell us, how are you coming along with the bow?" Dale said, looking across the table at me.

"Fine." I said. "I'm making progress."

Shane spoke up. "She's doin' real good." I looked down the table at him. He was nodding and half-smiling. "I saw her practicing the other day, she's a natural."

"Thanks." I said quietly. "I think I can hold my own." I said, glancing sideways at Daryl.

"She fuckin' rocks." he said, with a mouth-full of stew. "Ready to go out huntin' wi' me real soon." He took a swig of the warm beer in front of him.

"I don't know about that." I smiled. "Not sure you'd want a girl tromping through the woods with ya."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Least not a girlie-girl." he snorted.