I stood at the window mesmerised by the motion of the rain drops and eventually heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and Daryl making his way down the stairs behind me. I turned to face him and was relieved that the clothes fit alright, the scarlet polo shirt was a little tight across the chest but it would do. However, he did appear like a fish out of water. I'd never seen him wear clothes like that before, I'd only seen him in earthy looking vest tops and torn sleeveless shirts and I could tell he was uncomfortable. His shoulders were hunched and he stiffly turned to face me with a pained expression on his face.

"Feel a fool in this," he growled.

"Take it off then!" I cried indignantly, shrugging my shoulders and to my surprise he actually lifted the shirt over his shoulders and held it out to me.

"Here," he gestured towards me with the shirt and after I had taken it from him he stalked over to the couch keeping his eyes rooted on mine with a defiant look before throwing himself heavily onto the seat.

I stood gaping at him before throwing the t-shirt in his face and with a grin scuttled off to the kitchen.

"Hey!" he called with the ghost of a smile playing on his lips before launching himself out of his seat and chasing me across the room. It was so unexpected I squealed with anticipation before running into the kitchen where I backed up against the sideboard, my heart pounding. He came running in after me and grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up onto the side and positioning himself in between my legs.

"You're a naughty girl," he almost purred and I was paralysed with the sudden proximity of him. His hands held me in position around my waist and I was pinned to the spot.

His face was so close to mine, so close I felt as if he would lean forward and brush his lips against me. Oh god, oh god he's going to kiss me. My heart was pounding so hard I was terrified he might hear it. For one suspended moment he held his face still and close to mine, his blue eyes holding me intensely until I could feel I wasn't breathing, he had knocked the breath right out of me. His breathing was shallow and almost predatory and I could feel the heat of it on my skin. Then, just like that he pulled away and the air seemed to run cold all around me as he moved back and held out a hand in my direction. I took it and hopped down from the ledge.

For a moment there was something close to static in the air between us, a frisson seemed to run over our touching palms and like the first night we had spoken an understanding seemed to take hold. His eyes smouldered as he looked at me and I was angry that he had pulled away like he had. He was stood there, half naked in front of me and all I wanted to do was to reach across and touch him and run my fingers across his skin lightly searching the contours of his torso. It felt right somehow even though I had only truly known him for a few days at most but the attraction was fierce and I just couldn't shake some sense into my head. Then again, I had dated Johnny for years, where had my head been then? I felt like now I had stepped out of obscurity and for once could see clearly and right there in front of me was Daryl Dixon: rugged and raw but still genuinely good deep underneath the angry facade.

He unexpectedly dropped my hand and ran upstairs, coming back down moments later pulling his wet vest top back over his head.

"What are you-?"

"Come on," he breathed and picked up his crossbow. "We're going outdoors, get some air in our lungs."

"But it's raining goddamn it!" I cried. He gave me a narrow eyed look and glanced pointedly at my raincoat hanging on the chair. I was suddenly excited at the prospect and with a show of reluctance so he wouldn't think I was so easily led, I began to pull my coat on.

"What we going to do out there?" I asked with lips parted

"I'm gonna teach you how to shoot," he replied. "You need to know how to take care yourself girl, can't be protecting you twenty-fo seven."

He turned and opened the door and we left out through the field behind the house where I had found him earlier. The rain was still as aggressive and thumped at our heads as we charged through it. We bolted towards the woods and before long found ourselves under the shelter of the trees. I removed my hood and looked at him impatiently before he jerked his head in the direction towards the field and the fence where we had stood the other night and where he had implied that he had killed the infected creature in the woods. When we got there I noticed a bunch of rather sorry looking crumpled cans lying on the ground and realised where this was going.

"This how you blow off steam?" I chided.

"These are for you, not me, I don't need practice."

"What made you so cock sure you were going to get me back in these woods?"

He moved up against me and forced the handle of the crossbow into my hands before sliding slowly behind me, one hand moving as he did so around the circumference of my waist. His fingers disturbed the material of my top slightly and brushed against my skin in a way which sent shivers running through my body. He held his head over my shoulder and softly spoke instructions in my ear on how to lift the weapon and engage the arrow. He had already set up the cans on the fence and with his capable arms he held mine in position, showing me how to line up the shot.

"You feel the trigger there?" He breathed pressing my finger into it gently with his own. "Pull that when I say, alright?"

I nodded almost imperceptibly and held my breath in waiting. The stillness and silence of the woods was absolute and he was pressed so closely against my back I could feel his heartbeat resonating in my spine.

"Now!"

I pulled the trigger and the arrow sailed gracefully through the belly of the can and sent it flying into the field behind the fence. The feeling of hitting the mark like that was exhilarating, even if it was executed mainly by Daryl's skilled hands. I handed him the crossbow and ruffled his hair vigorously.

"Not such a bad shot eh?" I laughed and he reached out to grab me but I reacted too quickly for him and instead went running further into the woods out of his reach. I felt the same excitement of the chase from earlier and it was as if I might explode with the possibilities of this one after such a close call earlier. I backed up against a tree and watched with shining eyes as he came running up to me. His eyes were burning as he pressed against me and with one deft hand he pulled my head back and hungrily possessed my lips with his. I moved my lips against his with equal fervour letting his tongue glide deliciously into my mouth and against my own. My whole body screamed with ecstasy as we tasted each other, each as ravenous as the other, eager to get more, to push further. I grabbed fistfuls of his hair in my hands as he gripped at my waist.

"Oh god," I heard a gasping voice utter, not realising instantly that it was my own, it felt so disembodied. As I did he slowly moved his thumb down towards the hem of my jeans and teasingly stroked the skin underneath it. I groaned and pushed his head back ever so slightly so I could look into his eyes and try and read what was going on behind them. He stared back at me not giving anything away and brushed his hot lips underneath my jaw line.

During this brief rest bite the sound of wood cracking underfoot resonated from an area just behind us. His hunter instinct jumped to attention and his head shot up to take in the surroundings. I moved from the tree and turned to see for myself only to find four of the infected shuffling their way towards us, their faces grotesquely mutilated and their teeth gnashing sickeningly.

"Fuck!" I gasped.

"Get back to the fence," Daryl hissed and we ran back to where he had dropped the crossbow before the chase.

I watched stunned as the small group determinedly made their way closer and closer. I had never seen this many together before and the increasing numbers inspired a feeling of dread in my stomach. I looked on as he grabbed his bow, marched resolutely towards them and lifted it into position. Before I knew quite what was happening he had let one gleaming arrow fly into the skull of the creature that was closest before stepping forward and pulling the arrow out of the bloody pulp and reloading it in the bow. He did the same with the other three, all done calmly and coolly, his hunter's eye coming into play and a steely resolve gripping him. The last one fell with a dull thud to the ground and he moved towards it pulling the arrow out once more and then stood with his head lowered breathing deeply, his whole body heaving. He turned to me after a moment and his forearms and body were splattered with blood. He looked feral in that split second, his jaw locked into tight determination and his mouth pinched in what looked like disgust.

"Did you have to kill 'em?" Was all I could think to say after a long silence, after all, how did we know it was the right thing to do? He says they're not alive, they're not people but how can he know that? How can any of us know what these things truly are?

"This place aint gonna be safe before long. My brother was right. We need to get the hell outta here before we're overrun," he replied. "And oh yeah...I had to kill 'em, or else they woulda got up to that trailer park and killed a whole lot more. Y'understand? Don't you feel nothing for these things, you prob'ly still thinking of em' as humans cos you just seen a couple but they aint, alright? There aint anything human about em' anymore. Understand?"

"I guess," I replied although I was still uneasy about the whole thing.

"Let's get back," he said, taking my hand. I turned and headed back, feeling the most conflicted and sorrowful I'd ever done so in my life. I began to seriously wonder for the first time in days where this epidemic was going to lead us and how long it would take for hordes of those things to come for the town, bringing their pestilence with them. I became aware of an unpleasant charge in the air, the rumbling approach of a building storm. Just how long would it take before it hit?