The response for the last chapter was so amazing! I cant thank everyone enough for the great feedback . Here's the next one, hopefully I keep developing the relationship to your liking! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Thanks!

Chapter Four

The sight in the barn had been horrific, the idea that someone could try and act so innocent and then carry out a brutal act on someone, a woman, so suddenly five minutes later chilled Daryl.

"Where'd she go?" Rick asked as he tightened the ropes around Randall's arms and feet, placing the blindfold over his eyes roughly.
"I'll go find her, if she goes too far out she'll be some walkers lunch." Daryl replied, turning on his heel and jogging out of the barn, his crossbow slung over his shoulder.

"What's goin'on?" Lori asked as she appeared from inside the house.

"Situation in the barn, keep everyone away from there." Daryl stated as he followed the trail of footprints out of the farm and into the woods. He paused as Rick jogged up behind him.
"I got your back," He said.
"You shoulda had hers…you shoulda had all of ours. Randall shoulda' been killed when we'd had the chance," Daryl spat, following the trail further out of the farm. Guilt gripped at his throat and he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Maybe he should've warned her about Randall in the barn, should have told her not to go anywhere near him. At least then Lila wouldn't be running like hell around the walker infested woods. He shook the thoughts from the forefront of his mind.

Lila was freezing, the sun was setting and it sent shivers over her skin. She had run for what felt like an eternity before she had seen something really worth finding. The cabin was nestled amidst the heavy trees and shrubbery, in perfect condition as far as she could tell. She glanced around, no walkers visible, she walked up to the door, she jiggled the door until it opened with a low creak. Slowly, she walked throughout the cabin. It was separated into two rooms, a kitchen living room and a bedroom off to the left. A bed, covered with pale blue sheets was messed up in the bedroom, the kitchen had been raided already, the cupboards almost bare, minus a few tins of soup. Slowly, she lowered herself down onto the floor, her back against the closed door. Her skin rippled with disgust as she thought about what had just happened, tears swelled in her eyes and she shivered, unable to control her emotions any longer.

Darkness clouded the curtained windows, nothing outside was visible except the dull silhouette of trees. Lila was awoken from her exhausted slumber by a rattling against the door. The only thing keeping it closed was her body weight, which in itself wasn't exactly enough to keep a horde of walkers at bay. Unable to move, her breathing grew erratic and panicked. She felt like an idiot for not washing the blood off of her dirtied skin, the scent would be enough to awaken the laziest of walkers. Lila looked around, unable to see anything to use as a weapon, she kept herself leaning against the front door as she felt around the kitchen cupboard closest to her, her hand came into contact with something solid and metal. She pulled it out towards her – a hammer, heavy enough to cause some lasting damage, she ran swiftly over to the kitchen table, moving it so that it was in front of the door managing to keep it from opening for a few minutes.

She huddled herself in the corner of the kitchen, the hammer clasped in her shaky hands as she prepared for the end. She had always known that she wouldn't last long on her own, but now, she hardly even cared. After everything she'd gone through – the months of abuse, mental, physical and sexual…she didn't feel like she could take anymore of what had become of this world. So with her hands shaking, her arms and torso bruised and bloodied, she prepared for the worst. The front door stopped moving, she quickly realised that it was no longer her main problem. Instead, she heard a screeching noise coming from the bedroom, footsteps sounded against the wooden floor, slowly, they made their way closer and closer. Her heart was thumping in her ears, she blinked away tears and ignored all of the physical pain she was feeling as she prepared to fight just one last time.

The figure came into sight seconds later, but it wasn't quite what she had expected. Panicking, she shuffled back using her hands, her back knocking against the kitchen cupboards as fear took over her, walkers she could cope with…but if it was Randall or one of the others, she couldn't live another day going through what they had put her through.

"You're alright." Slowly, he moved closer, his crossbow at his side, he held his hands up in defence.

"It's me, it's Daryl…from the farm." He continued, but Lila's chest was still tight, her breathing coming out in painful, ragged bursts.
"Have you been bitten? Scratched?" He asked, kneeling down in front of Lila; his eyes holding something close to sympathy. Scurrying backwards, away from Daryl, Lila shook her head - more tears rolled over her cheeks.

"Sshh, sshh, you're alright, come on now," Daryl soothed as best he could, but Lila just continued to shake, the hammer feeling like it weighed a ton in her hands.
"Come on, gimme that," Daryl said quietly, his hand wrapping around the hammer and taking it from her, she let him remove the weapon without argument.

"You're safe," He said again, trying his best to reassure her, but the fear was so evident in her eyes he couldn't help but feel bad that he hadn't thought to take one of the women with him, of course Lila was going to be cautious of him.

"I can't be near him again, I don't want to go back, please," Lila begged, her weak voice barely a whisper in the silence of the abandoned cabin.

"I won't let them hurt you," Daryl said, the sincerity and compassion in his voice surprised even himself, "None of us will," He corrected.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Lila whimpered, her voice small and delicate.

"No offense girl, but you didn't exactly tell all with us either," Daryl replied, "Come on, let me get you cleaned up so we can head back to the farm. They'll be worried sick about you."

Lila scoffed before she spoke, her lips were bloodied and starting to swell, "They don't give a shit. Why would they?" She frowned, her eyes locking with Daryl's, "I ain't part of this little cult you all have goin' on, I missed out on the group bonding cos I was busy being beaten to within an inch of my life. Your little group thinks it's got things so tough, they wouldn't know suffering if it hit them in the face." Her words stunned Daryl into silence, the way her voice had changed into something so robotic and cold was startling to say the least. He moved around beside her, sitting down and letting out a long sigh, he took note of the way Lila tensed beside him and he moved away from her a little.

"I ain't gunna argue with you on that one, Lila," Daryl said calmly, she was surprised to hear her name escaping his lips and turned her head to look at him, her neck aching in the process.

"Lori has her husband, her son…still she yearns for something more, Andrea is unnecessarily reckless, Rick is in a constant battle with himself and his morals. Shane doesn't even know where he stands half the time," Lila paused, laughing without humour, "I get that everything is frightening, you constantly live in fear that you'll lose someone or lose yourself. But there are worst things than fear."
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," Daryl said, he was busy fumbling with his crossbow.

"This world went to shit, unless you're responsible for that you have nothing to apologise for." Lila laughed, shaking her head.

"We should get back to the farm, you need to get cleaned up, it ain't good to be sittin' around here for too long all covered in blood, walkers'll smell you from miles away."

"Gee, thanks," Lila replied sarcastically.

Daryl stood first, holding his hand out for Lila to accept, she hesitated, staring at it for a moment before accepting, her hand was cold and clammy in Daryl's. He pulled her up as gently as he could, but she felt as if everything in her body was bruised and swollen, the second she was standing, she pulled her hand from Daryl's.

The trip back to the farm was quick and without any trouble, Daryl had his arm tucked around Lila's waist, supporting her as she limped along. Bruises were obscuring her face and neck, he dreaded to think what the rest of her was like. She'd taken a huge beating and although she hadn't shown it during the walk, there was something in her eyes…something that made her appear almost broken.

The second they appeared at the farm gates, people began to make their way over to the pair.

"I don't want to-" Lila began, her voice hoarse and strangled, Daryl cut her off immediately.

"I know, I'll handle it, don't worry." He managed to walk Lila straight past the questioning eyes and into the house, he took her upstairs straight away, not talking to anyone. They reached the bathroom and he walked her inside, closing the door behind him. She watched as he set down his crossbow and locked the door, nerves rattled her stomach but once he began fumbling around in the draws and pulling out a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton wool and bandages, she felt a little less on edge. Lila sat down on the edge of the bathtub and Daryl knelt in front of her, he emptied some of the contents of the bottle onto the cotton wool and glanced back at Lila.
"This'll hurt," He said, almost asking permission, Lila nodded.

Daryl moved her face to the side as he dabbed the soaked cotton wool onto her swollen, bloodied cheek bone. She hissed and jumped back, her eyes closed and a lonesome tear rolled down her cheek.

"Sorry," He apologised nonchalantly as he continued disinfecting all of the cuts on her face. Daryl couldn't help but notice the lead weight feeling in the pit of his stomach as he moved the cotton wool over her plump lips, they parted and reddened with the pain but he still found them undeniably attractive. But before he could get too absorbed in her features, tears filled her green eyes again, she glanced away from Daryl, he realised her hands were shaking and set down the bottle of antiseptic.

"Hey," He moved his head so that his eyes met with hers, reluctantly she glanced at him and he noticed that broken expression again, she was holding back what all of this had really done to her. He couldn't find the words to comfort her, he'd never been good at that sort of thing and that didn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

"I'm sorry," She breathed heavily, her chest heaving with sorrow filled sobs, "I just feel like I can't anymore, I can't fight."

"You ain't got no choice anymore darlin'," Daryl stated, his voice a little harsher than he'd intended, "Thas just what this world is now. Fight or die."