Hunting. That's what Daryl and Melanie Dixon did the best. And right now, they were on a kill streak. "Think 13 is enough?" I asked Daryl, pulling an arrow out of a squirrel. "Better be," he grumbled, wiping the sweat off his forehead. I leveled my crossbow to the ground and slowly walked over to him. "Hey," I said quietly, brushing a piece of dirt off his face. He instantly relaxed, leaning his head into my hand. He placed his hand on top of mine for a second, before releasing it. "I just wish they had the decency to at least thank us for what we do." he muttered quietly, knowing I would still hear it.

"You would think," I repeated, brushing some dirt off my hands. "Granted, most of them ain't from around here," I said, thinking out loud. He let nod, signaling he agreed. I pulled at the string of squirrels around my waist, moving it towards my left hip. "We don't come off as the most appealing people Mels." he said, gesturing to our clothes and faces. I sighed, "They're just judgmental, love." I said, scratching my head with my free hand. He sighed, ending the conversation. We walked beside each other, hands barely brushing against each other, deciding to head back to camp. "I know you don't want me to bring this up, but what are we gonna do about my favorite brother in law?" He chuckled for a moment, before saying, "You only have one, remember?" I smirked, "Yeah, I was at the wedding, I think." He chuckled before wrapping his free arm around my shoulder.

He rubbed his hand along my shoulder, causing goosebumps to appear, before they slowly went down. He slowly let his hand fall back to his bow. Shortly after, he spoke. "I don't know, Mels. He and those assholes don't seem to ever be on speakin' levels and it's getting plum ridiculous." I nodded along as he rambled about Merle. Finally after a good ten minutes, I spoke up. "Dar, there has to be somethin'. Hell, we're already across from Ed and Shane's tents, what more can we do?" I ran my hand threw my long brown locks and pushed it behind my tanned shoulders. "Honestly, I have no clue. Well there's always that one option, Mels." I shook my head, "You know how attached Carl and Sophia are to me. I'd break their hearts and you know how much I love those kids."

He nodded his head, stopping us right before we headed back into camp. "If you weren't here Mels, they'd defintiely hate us for sure. You're the only thing they like about us, seems like." I let out a soft sigh. "Well I guess it's a good thing we got married." I said, softly smiling. He smirked and smacked my ass before coming into the opening of the camp. I saw Daryl turn towards the tent out of the corner of my eye, so I decided I was going to go talk to Carol for a minute about these rabbits. She may know how to cook most things, bu squirrel was definitely not her forte. Poor thing. Not to mention her asshole of her husband beat her all the time. She was extremely skittish.

"Carol?" I called out before walking up to her. "Hi Melanie," she said, with a smile on her face. "Sophia's been itching for you to get back here. She said she needed your help on a math problem that neither Lori or I could figure out. She's over there with Carl if you want to see her." I smiled shortly before replying. "I'll be sure to help her in a bit, Carol. But first I brought you some things." I pulled at the squirrels from my waist and said, "You might need a little help in the cooking department with squirrel." She looked slightly embarrassed, but before it got too bad, I interjected. "But it's fine! It took me like two weeks before Daryl would even eat it again."

She let out a small chuckle. "But shhh, I wasn't supposed to say that." I said, bringing a finger to my lips. "Thank you," she said looking down. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder for a second saying, "You're welcome." I slowly removed my hand from her shoulder, whenever I saw Ed walk out from his tent. "Alright, grab a knife and let's get to work." She grabbed one and said, "If we're gutting these, I don't think I can." I let out a small chuckle. "Happens to all of us," I said, grabbing a squirrel and pulling it to me. "I can do these, no problem. It just ain't meant for some people." She nodded making a face whenever I began peeling the pelt off. I quickly finished and said, "Okay. Now since we don't really have any spices that we could use, we just have to cook as is."

Carol looked at me, taking in everything at once. "What were you before all this?" She asked quietly, not wanting Ed to hear her. "You'll never guess it." I said, cutting the meat into chewable pieces, and placing them in the pot over the fire. "It wasn't a stereotypical job?" She asked. I let out a smile. "I mean, it was a normal job. Well at least to me it was normal. Payed good, too." She stood there for a few moments mimicking my actions before asking, "Medical field?" I nodded no, throwing more pieces into the pot. "I worked in a prison, believe it or not." Her face was full of confusion. "I was a CO." She looked back at me with confusion. "Correctional officer. I basically walked around every hour or so and made sure the inmates were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. Of course, we do other things. I've worked in about two jails before, so it depends on the place." She was still confused, as it was written all over her face.

"I made sure, none of them got into any fights. Keep the peace, ya know? Make sure no one escaped. That type of thing." She finally shook her head in agreement. "You look a little-" she stopped, not wanting to upset me. "Wimpy?" I finished for her. Red hinted her cheeks as she nodded. "I get that a lot," I said as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. We both quieted for a moment, staring off into the distance. I looked down at my body and sighed. Sure I was 5'8''. That was pretty tall for girls around here. Dark brown hair with a tan that I'd gotten from the Georgia sun. My light blue eyes stood out against my dark hair. I was fairly curvy, but I didn't have much muscle on me.

You ever break up any fights before?" Carol's voice brought me back to her. I nodded, "Oh yeah. I can't even tell you the number of how many. You'd be surprised at how many people think they can take me. It takes a good deal to take me down." She nodded. "That's really something special though, Melanie. Not many women would do what you did. " She said, with a full smile on her face. A hint of red went to my cheeks as I lowered my head to check the food in the pot. I grabbed a fork as Carol said, "I know this is probably wrong, but wasn't that done five minutes ago?" I shook my head. "No, you have to check the insides. Not the outside, because this isn't like the meat we used to get in the stores." I tore a piece apart, and looked at the inside, which was now a dull brown with a hint of pinkness. "Now it's done." I said, smiling. She quickly shooed me away, telling me to go see Sophia. I excused myself and made my way past numerous tents before tapping Sophia and Carl lightly on the shoulder.

Both jumped from their chairs, letting out little yelps. "Melanie!" they spoke at the same time. "Did I scare you?" I asked, laughing. Sour faces looked back up at me. I slowly bent down and said, "Sorry, didn't mean it. I walk too quiet don't I?" They both nodded. "Look at what we're learning! But I don't know how to do this one, will you help me?" Sophia's sweet voice came to my ears. "Sure thing kiddo," I said ruffling her hair. I quickly showed her how to correctly do the problem, answering Carl's questions every now and then. "Is Mr. Daryl nice to you, Melanie?" Sophia asked quietly. So quiet, I almost didn't hear her, which was saying something.

For a second, I didn't respond. "Yes, he is baby girl. He'd never hut me on purpose." She nodded for a second and said, "Even when he's mad?" I nodded and looked at her in the eyes, "Even when he's mad, he'd never hurt me." She smiled a sad smile and looked back at her school work. "Carl why don't you go see if your mom has something for you to do? I need to talk with Sophia about all that girl stuff, like make-up, cloth-," I barely got my sentence out when Carl interrupted me. "Yeah, I'm gonna go see Shane, see if we can do some guy stuff." He walked away as fast as he could, almost running. I let out a small chuckle and looked at the dirt surrounding my worn out boots. "You don't want to talk about girl stuff do you?" I shook my head, almost sadly.

"Mommy says I'm not supposed to talk about things I don't want to." I placed my hands on her small arms, and ran them up and down her arms. "I know sweetheart, I just wanna know if he does the same thing to you?" She looked down at the ground for a minute or two, before barely nodding a yes. I let out a sigh, pulling her towards me into a hug. "I just wanted to know, why don't you go off and play?" I suggested, giving her a smile. She smiled back before running over to where Carl, Lori, and Carol were standing.

I walked across the camp, heading towards the tent. As I was walking into my tent, I felt eyes on me. I quickly snuck a quick glance to see Ed giving me a look of hatred. I hope he don't say anything to me. Don't need alpha Daryl taking control. I clambered into the tent as fast as I could, quickly throwing myself on the pillow on the ground, next to Daryl's shirtless body. "Kid talk your head off?" he asked, smirking. I lightly smacked his chest, nodding yes. "C'mhere." he said, opening his arms for me to wiggle into. "She told me that Ed hits her today." I said, quietly. I instantly felt Daryl tense under me. "Such an asshole. Men like him don't-" I stopped him before he got any louder. "Daryl we've been here for only three weeks. I think they'd be pretty upset if you just randomly went all Hulk on him. It's not their fault they aren't as observant as we are." He shook his head, nodding in agreement. "He just needs to honestly be put in his place. I know that we should say somethin', but if we do they're just gonna get hurt worse. You know what my mom always said, right?"

"If a man puts a hand on any woman, lord give me the strength to not whoop some ass." He said, laughing. "There you go," I said. "It'll all come out in due time. Hell, we're just now getting to know each and one another." He nodded, scratching his beard every few minutes. We sat in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the sound of each of us breathing. "I think that even though we ain't fitting in just perfect yet, they'll come around." I said, sitting up and running both hands through my hair. He laid there for a couple seconds, before grabbing his shirt and throwing it on. "Yeah," he said, biting his lip. "I'll never forget 'officer' Shane getting us off that interstate. We were incredibly lucky that day."

I nodded my head, agreeing with him. "Saw some deer tracks while we were out today." He said, taking his bottom lip between his teeth. "Wanna go lookin' again? It'll get us away from the group for a bit," I said, letting out a small chuckle. "You know you wanna stay here with Andrea and her full case of make-up." I let out a grumble and punched him in the shoulder. "Watch it woman, I ain't no punching bag!" I smiled. "Sorry." I muttered back. "You're fine, in more ways than one." He said, a smirk plastered across his face. "Back at ya," I said, picking myself up off the ground.

I was instantly met with sticky air as I opened up the flap tent. "Lunch time!" Lori's voice rang out through the camp. "I'll go and grab us a plate, you find us somewhere to sit. Please?" I asked, looking back at him. He nodded, before looking down at the ground. I let out a sigh and walked to Carol. She instantly handed me to plates, knowing Daryl wasn't going to come and get his. I've gotten it for him this entire time and I would, until someone said thanks to him for getting the food in the first place. I gave a curt nod, ignoring Lori's glare. I turned away and headed for the set of lawn chairs Daryl had placed next to the fire pit.

I instantly noticed his dark brown hair peeking out from the head of the chair. He clearly did not enjoy sitting there. I walked up behind him as loud as I could, which was still pretty quiet, and his head instantly swiveled when he heard my footsteps. A small smile stayed on his face for a fraction of a second, before returning into the permanent scowl on his face. I handed him his plate, and felt his hand on mine for a second, thanking me non-verbally. I sent him a soft smile as he readjusted in his seat. I sat down in mine, picking at my food quickly. The entire group had surrounded us and I could tell Daryl was feeling uncomfortable. "Shane. There was deer tracks out there. Mind if me and Daryl take off for a while today and see if we can get her. I know we just brought back 13 squirrels, but we've already used five and that was for breakfast. We need to get bigger game."

He pondered it for a minute, swirling food around on his plate. "Sure thing. Just take water, be careful. You two know the usual." I muttered a thanks as Daryl and I cleaned our plates. We both stood at the same time. "I guess we're gonna head off now. We'll be back whenever we bag the deer." Heads all around started nodding, not really caring. I inwardly scoffed and grabbed Daryl's plate as he got the chairs. Carol's hands instantly wrapped around mine as she took the plates from me. "Be careful out there. Sophia and Carl will miss you. You two be safe." I nodded, placing my hand onto hers. "We'll be back before you know it."

"Should we pack the tent or just bring the other one?" I said, placing a water bottle in his backpack. He pointed to the other one. "Alright. Um, well the sky's pretty fair right now, so I don't think a pop up shower's gonna happen, so that'll be good. I got my call, and you got yours. I think we're ready to leave." I said, standing up and placing my hands on my hips, looking around for any odd and ends we might have forgotten. Daryl's eyes raked up and down my body, taking in the sight of me slightly scatter brained. I bent and down and picked up his backpack. When I was back up right, he was licking his lips. "If I didn't know any better I woulda thought you were just taking her outta camp so you could get a piece of that ass, little brother."

"Oh shut up Merle. You're just jealous you ain't got a woman by your side," I said, side hugging him. He hugged for a second before instantly letting go. "Shut the hell up Merle." Daryl said, tossing a shirt into a part of the backpack. "Aww, come on baby brother I didn't do nothin!" I smirked and said, "Merle, hon, I love you but you really need to learn how to shut the hell up sometimes!" He just let out a laugh, "There's my little spitfire." Daryl's lip pursed instantly, hating how Merle said that. Daryl had called me that whenever we had first met and it stuck. Unfortunately Merle caught on to it. So it was more of a bedroom thing between the two of us instead of a regular nickname. I let out a small chuckle. "Come on Merle, be good while we're gone. Do it for me please?" He crossed his muscular arms as Daryl placed his arm around my waist.

"I'll think about it." I let out a big smile. "You'd do anything for me Merle Ray Dixon and you know it." He laughed loudly and said, "Only cause you got me out of jail." I shrugged my shoulders. "You know that sounds pretty bad if you didn't know the whole story." He nodded, "Yeah. Well, you two be careful. I expect to see you in two days at the latest. Be safe out there." Daryl nodded before releasing me and shaking Merle's hand. I instantly hugged him as soon as Daryl moved out of the way. "Keep them safe." I said, before releasing him and walking towards Daryl.

"Let's go get Bambi's mama." I said, loading my pistol before strapping it to my thigh. "Let's go."

–

Daryl and I sat by the fire, watching the flames crackle into the night sky. We'd tracked the deer until almost sundown and decided to camp out because the deer wouldn't go much farther anyways before it would settle down as well. I wiped my chin, getting all of the leftover grease from the earlier rabbit kill off. "Queen bee is on her little high horse, ain't she?" Daryl asked looking into the fire. "Of course she is. She thinks since she's shacking up with Shane she's head bitch." Daryl pursed his lips and nodded. I let out a long sigh and said, "Well with the way I see it babe, let her rule all she wants." He turned his icy blue eyes to me, laced with curiosity. "If she wants to rule, so be it. You and I are the ones that get her food. If she wants to keep on getting it, she better be saying thanks and not giving us dirty looks every ten minutes." His eyes instantly melted into a softer blue, meaning he was relaxed.

"Gotcha. You're right though, Mels. There's no way in hell you're gonna take shit from her. I've known you all my life. You just ain't gonna back down. I noticed the look she gave you when you didn't say thanks to Carol for giving you the food. I'm surprised you didn't say anything back to her. Stupid." He shook his head and started poking at the fire. I let out a soft chuckle. "Me too honestly." I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, scooting closer to the fire. Daryl's laughter filled the air as I looked to him. "What's so funny?" I asked, looking around trying to find the source of his entertainment.

"You. Not in the bad way!" he said as I felt my face go red. "Why you laughing at me?" I muttered, looking downwards. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me towards him. "Only you would be cold in sixty degree weather." He continued rubbing his arm around me, creating warmth. "You know me. Hot blooded." I said, smiling. "No fever of a hundred and three though." he said, cracking a joke. "Look at you." I said, grinning. "Don't remember the last time you made one of those." He looked at me a second before placing his lips on my forehead. "Me either," he whispered back. "Maybe if we weren't surrounded by assholes all day you'd hear them a bit more."

"They just don't know you like I do." I said, sighing. "The Daryl I know has a tough, bad ass persona, but has a heart for the people he loves. My architect of a husband knew things that I could never even learn with years of teaching. Just goes to show how people base things off of physical appearances. It's awful. But in all honesty, I don't want them knowing you like I do. That's just for me." He nodded. "I bet half of them think we're white trash rednecks, no doubt." I let out a yawn after he finished talking. "Go get some sleep, I'll take first and third watch." I nodded, getting out of his arms. "What, no kiss?" I laughed and bent down and pressed my lips to his. "Goodnight Daryl. Wake me up in three." He nodded and kissed my cheek one last time before I laid down in the sleeping bag.

–

"Mels, wake up," I heard Daryl say, lightly shaking my shoulder. I instantly opened my eyes and saw him leaning over me. The sky was just beginning to lighten up a bit, so I knew he must be tired. "There's a squirrel by the fire, sorry I didn't wake you earlier. Time got away from me" he said as I began removing myself from the sleeping bag. I stood up and popped my joints, waking up quickly. I grabbed my bow and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "You're fine," I said stifling a yawn. "Go to bed, I'll wake you when we should head out." He nodded, before pecking my cheek and laying down.

I sat down by the fire after I saw the gentle rises of his chest, signaling he was asleep. I tore at the squirrel with greedy hands as I'd fallen hungry while I slept. I threw the bones deeper into woods whenever I was done. I looked around, taking notice of the faint animal calls and the ruffling leaves. I walked around the perimeter of camp for a good hour or so, before returning to my seat by the fire. I picked up my arrows and some pieces of wood suitable for my bow and began carving them. Never couldn't have too many arrows Daryl had told me countless times before.

I'd never forget really getting to know Daryl. Sure, we'd grown up together in the same town, all throughout high school. But when I went to work at the jail, I never saw much of him. I did however see Merle a lot. We'd have to put him in the drunk tank and he'd get fined for public intoxication and be released in the next thirty six to forty eight hours. However, that was just at first. Then came the drug charges and the violence to the patrol officers taking him in. It got nothing but worse. One day the police drug him in and placed him in a holding cell and not fifteen minutes later I heard him hollering, "Let me see the pretty CO! Bring her here!" I knew Merle well enough he'd try some pickup line to help him get out.

I didn't say anything as I approached the cell door. "Hey there, officer Fussell. You know ya wanna let me outta this cell, pretty thing." I shook my head, "Nah. I think you gotta stay in here for a while. Sorry." He sighed, expelling the liquor on his breath. "Want my one phone call now," he said. I nodded and two other officers got him out of the room and walked him over to the phone. I sat down at my desk and checked the clock. One more hour left and then I'd be on my way to my little apartment. "Get your ass down here Daryl!" Merle screamed into the phone. I quickly dad my hour round and walked back towards the drunk tank cells whenever I heard two voices, almost yelling. "What the hell did ya do now Merle?"

That was definitely Daryl. "Alright boys, calm it down a bit." I said, smiling and walking to my seat. "There she is brother! Look at her!" I logged my rounds into the computer and heard Daryl, "I know Merle. I know."

A grunting sound brought me out of my thoughts. One lone walker was walking towards the fire. I placed my bow to my shoulder, instantly shooting the walker. It dropped to the ground with a solid thud. I let out a sigh as I heaved myself off the ground. I placed my foot on the side of its head and yanked out my arrow. I grimaced at the noise it made and sighed once more. I looked up at the sky and saw the sun beginning to peak out. I checked the walker for anything useful, but my search came up empty. I walked back over to Daryl and bent down. "Hey," I said, running my fingers through his brown locks. Daryl's eyes instantly met mine as he reached for his weapon right beside him. "Whoa, it's just me." I let out a chuckle as he sighed out of relief.

"Ready to go?" I asked as he propped himself up on one elbow. "Got any breakfast yet?" he asked, somewhat groggy. I shook my head, "No. We ain't gonna need it after we get this deer here in a few. If we get hungry on the way I'll get us some birds or thumper." He nodded and finally stood up, brushing off some leaves and dirt. "Let's go get this sumbitch." I smiled at his choice of words and put out the small fire. "Let's go." I said, as we took off hand in hand following the deer tracks.

Daryl and I slowly crept along the fallen leaves, making little to no sound as we slowly moved behind a little doe. We turned around a turn, getting closer to the camp. Daryl realized this and rolled his eyes. If this deer kept going it was gonna take off faster than we could shoot it. I stopped for a second, taking a breath and steadying my bow on my shoulder once again. Daryl looked at me and pointed that he was going ahead as I shook my head and shot a rabbit that tried scampering around a honeysuckle thicket. I walked over and picked it up, examining it. There was a good amount of meat on it, so we'd be good for a bit. "Disease ridden, stupid, motherless, poxy bastard!" I heard Daryl holler. I took off as fast as I could to see our group standing around decapitated walker laid beside our deer.

"Calm down, son." I heard Dale, the old man speak up. "What do you know about it ole man! Why don't ya take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond! We've been trackin' this deer for miles! Gonna take it back to camp, get some venison." I let out a sigh as everyone looked somewhat normal with his outburst. "Do you think we could cut around this chewed up part?" I shook my head, and walked up next to him. "Such a damn shame." Suddenly the walkers head began making noises again. "Come on people, what the hell? It's gotta be the brain." He let an arrow fly, piercing it in the eye. "Don't y'all know nothing?