Sorry for the late update! You guys know I'm usually on top of things, it's just finals week!

Here's something to keep you guys satiated, you little freaks! ;)

Just two more finals next week and I'll have two more chapters hopefully up by Friday!
Enjoy!

A stillness in the breeze stifled everyone's brains. The air itself became heavy and thick like fog, swirling around lungs. Fear crawled like ants from underneath the earth and inched into their hearts and squeezed sickeningly, painfully. They looked to each other to confirm they had heard the words. They prayed they hadn't.

"There're walkers in the barn."

No surprise that Shane was first on his feet, T-Dog following dutifully. It took Daryl only a second to head towards the direction of the barn.

"Stay here," he gruffly said over his shoulder. Louie thought nothing to ignore his command and jogged over to the barn, tailing Glenn and pestering him for information to which he answered null.

"Glenn!" Louie finally seized his arm and jerked him to a stop. He acted forlorn and shiftily looked around him as if he would be prosecuted for telling her.

"I went to go meet Maggie-"

"Who?"

"Hershel's daughter. I told her I'd meet her there and… she said I wasn't supposed to see it!" he cried helplessly. Glowering at his clouded judgment because of a girl, Louie managed to forgive him.

"At least we found out sooner than later," she said testily. "C'mon."

Shane attempted to pull the doors of the barn open but the lock was unrelenting and barely moved an inch. He pressed his face against the doors to see through the cracks- suddenly the heavy gates started rattling and an uprising of moans could be heard. Shane jumped back from the sudden surprise and pulled out his gun, aiming it at the lock.

"No!" Rick intervened before Shane could pull a shot. Shane looked wildly at Rick as if he were a deranged man.

"The fuck are you doing?" Shane roared. "There are walkers in there man! There are no ifs, ands or buts!"

"They were locked in!" Rick reasoned. "Intentionally. For a reason! If we got a shot at being somewhere safe, this is it. Let me talk to Hershel, just give me a chance to-"

"They ain't house guests Rick! They're what we're runnin' from!" Shane roared, his gun erect in the air.

"Hershel thinks they're sick. It's his family and friends in there," Dale interjected pleadingly. Everyone looked at the older man in disbelief. "He doesn't seem them as dead."

"I can't fucking believe this," Shane breathed. "You gon' let that man sacrifice us because he can't get a fuckin' grip on reality?" Rick looking tired and in disbelief as well that they were living a mere yard away from being walker bait couldn't manage a response.

"I agree with Rick," Louie spoke up bravely. "We finally found somewhere safe to be," she sighed. "Rick should talk to Hershel. At least before we do something rash that we'll regret," she said staring straight at Shane.

Clenching and unclenching his jaw and nostrils flaring, he matched her stare until he broke. "I want a guard at all times on that barn," he said staring at everyone sternly while pointing the gun at the doors. "Y'all hear me? At all times." He marched off towards the RV with Andrea trailing behind him to probably start the first watch.

Rick looked at Louie with a quiet stare. She gave him a small smile to let him know that words weren't necessary.

She was with him.

Unfortunately, another stare attracted her attention. Daryl looked at her with solid disdain before heading in the direction Shane took off. Silencing her need to go after him and console him, she turned to see Glenn chasing Hershel's brunette daughter. Louie deduced that it was Maggie, especially the way she was glaring daggers at him. The feisty woman fulfilled her emotions by placing an egg in his cap and smashing it on his head, a runny mess falling down his face. Going to stalk after her and give her a piece of her mind, Glenn grabbed Louie's arm and told her it wasn't worth it and that it was his fault.

"It's not a fault if it was the right thing to do," she put her hand on his cheek and reprimanded him. Out of the corner of her eye, Louie curiously saw Carol slinking off towards the stables and in the back of the younger girl's mind, she had a feeling the older woman was going after somebody. Mutely, Louie walked away from Glenn and treaded in the footsteps that led to the stable. She heard Carol's pleas start to grow as she got closer.

"…I can't bear to lose you too," she heard Carol say. The sound of something heavy crashing onto the floor and a yell of pain that distinctly belonged to Daryl made her jump. Quickly rounding the corner she saw Daryl hunched over and Carol going to tend to him.

"Are you-"

"Just leave me be!" Daryl spat and clutching his side he straightened up. Both froze when they saw Louie standing there. "Stupid bitch," Daryl muttered as he limped away from Carol and pushed past Louie. The latter didn't budge an inch or even follow him with her eyes as the man trudged away from her; she kept her body and eyes locked on the woman in front of her calculating. Carol returned the hard stare with an uneasy and nervous one before Louie tore herself away and walked back to the campsite.

She didn't fail to see Shane with Rick in front of the barn talking in grave tones. Though she couldn't hear what their conversation was about, she imagined it was for the benefit of everyone. It made her think about blind faith and trust.

Rick was trying to do the right thing. She trusted him.

Shane was trying to do the right thing. She didn't trust him.

He wasn't always a shady character. She remembered a time when Shane was collected, reasonable and not frightening. When was the tipping point? Perhaps when his best friend came back to reclaim his wife. She almost spat in disgust. There was nothing worse than betrayal. She would know. The agony of treachery was being repeated right in front of her and she stood idly watching the story unfold. No. Not this time.

"Rick!" she called almost sprinting to the barn. The men looked up curiously.

"What's wrong?" Shane asked concerned as she approached them. She wanted to expose him. Show Rick what fraud he had for a friend. Why did he have to make it difficult and act concerned? It reminded her of when she trusted him. She stared at Shane for a long while trying to decipher if he was one man or two. She looked helplessly at Rick as if his face would have an answer; an answer as to if Shane would ever be okay again.

"Give us a minute," Rick said cautiously to his best friend with a clap on the shoulder. Shane's eyebrows furrowed at Louie in wonderment and shrugged.

"You let me know if there's anythin' I can do," he offered while walking away. Louie felt like asking him to change time. Change his mistakes.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked gently this time in their privacy. Louie's mouth hung open like a fish and she looked helplessly at him trying to find the courage to tell him the truth. To tell him everything.

"What did Hershel say?" She finally asked meekly. Rick wasn't stupid. He saw right through her difficulty but didn't press the matter so that she would come to tell him whatever it was in time. He sighed and looked away from her innocent face.

"I haven't told anyone yet," his words weighted down on her gut. Anything could have followed that phrase.

We can stay.

The walkers will go.

I know my best friend's screwing my wife.

"He wants us gone."

"No," Louie breathed. He looked back at her morosely.

"I told him. I told him that we can't- we can't. He doesn't know what it's like out there. He- he hasn't seen anything," Rick explained in an eerily calm tone.

"You'll get to him. I know you can," Louie encouraged, placing a hand on his arm.

"I don't know. I just don't know," he looked away again. "Everyone wants answers and I don't have them all. Why do they even look to me?"

"Probably the uniform," she joked about his now lost attire and the corner of his lips twitched. "We look to you because you haven't done us wrong. Not once have you done something because it was what you wanted. It was always for us," she chided. She tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I haven't told anyone yet," she teased him with his words and this time he frowned. "But do you know how I ended up with those men? Tied up like a dog?" He looked at her solemnly and shook his head slowly. "I wasn't kidnapped. I was bartered."

"What?" Rick asked in pure shock. She sighed and nodded.

"There were a lot of us when people started turning. It was after the hysteria and people started dying off. We had no idea where we were going. Just trying to survive, I guess. I had a friend in that group. We weren't close but we… we were- I thought we were friends," she swallowed her words with difficultly.

"You don't have to-" Rick lowered his voice and she shook her head.

"You need to hear this," she pressed. "We didn't have much food. And those men… those men had guns. They were going to kill us and take our stuff," she said distantly but suddenly her tone turned hard and cold. "But he traded me to keep their food. So they could survive. He sacrificed me," her breathing became ragged and her words on the verge of hysteria. She looked at Rick hoping he was listening hard. "I don't feel scared around you Rick. You do what's right. You- you're loyal, you know? You wouldn't ever trade us," she started to choke up and with sympathy dripping from his face he took the broken girl in his arms. When they pulled away she said, "The world's a prison now, and you're the only one with the badge," she said wearily.

"I ain't the only one," he gave a hollow laugh, referring to Shane.

"Like I said… you're loyal, Rick," she didn't smile.

"What was that about?" Shane asked Louie as she was heading toward her tent. She didn't respond. "What, suddenly you ain't talking to me anymore? Louie!" he went to grab her arm but she slipped out of his grip, staring harshly at him. He gave a coy grin, "Your big, bad boyfriend tell you not to talk to me or somethin'?" She didn't bother correcting him as to provoke him more. "So, it's official. You n' him?,"

It was her turn to smirk. "It's just killing you, isn't it?" she sneered. "Even though it's not true. It's killing you to think that even Daryl Dixon isn't alone." Shane's eyes averted her face to stare off in the distance.

"No he ain't," he chuckled and walked away. Louie frowned and looked in the direction he had just been looking and saw Daryl and Carol walking out of the forest looking demure, but exchanging glances anyways. She remained frozen, staring at the pair. Daryl merged away from the path they were both headed and went straight to Louie when he caught her expressionless face. He squinted at her with a frown.

"You did wrong," he said to her with a scrutinizing glare. She knew that he was mentioning the barn incident. She only gave him a flat look of exasperation and from the corner of her eye, she could see Carol skirting them.

"We shoulda just killed them all right there," he growled.

"I can't believe you're actually talking to me about your feelings," she snorted lightheartedly, inspecting her arm when she felt some sort of bug pinch her.

"Bitch," he turned away. Louie laughed and caught his arm to pull him back.

"Ok, ok. Talk, talk," she laughed. "Unless you want to go cry to Carol about that too,"

He looked at her sense humor, speechlessly. She didn't moan or bitch about how he wasn't spending time with her or that he was off with some other woman. She mocked him for it. "You're crazy, you know that?"

She sniffed and grinned. "Did you want me to hold your skirts and become some mute person again?"

"I think I liked you better like that," he squinted at the sky and peered at her to see her reaction. She wasn't insulted like he thought she would be.

"It was pathetic," she laughed but stressed every word so that stalker Carol would hear it. "I mourned myself and got over it. Playing damsel in distress will only get you and everyone around you, killed,"

Daryl could help but smirk at her confidence that showed every passing day. "I don't even know who you are," he tugged the ends of her hair but not coming closer as they were in public.

"I know. That's what matters. You, on the other hand, smell something awful. Go to that tower thing over there and start a fire and I'll bring some hot water," she scrunched her nose and pointed to a brick pillar near the forest so he could have some privacy while he bathed.

"It's a-"

"Yeah, yeah something to do with barns and hicks or something. Go, just please…" she interrupted his correction to push him off and he rolled his eyes before complying. As she filled up a large bucket with water that was always over the main fire by the campsite, Glenn approached her, sans egg.

"Hey, you said you'd teach me how to play," he said holding up the guitar she had left by the RV a few days ago. She hesitated for a moment not wanting to keep Daryl waiting; she saw smoke rising from where he was and bit her lip.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Ok, I can multitask. Help me get this bucket over there and I'll teach you."

"W-why over there?" he asked nervously taking the bucket as she tossed in a shallow pan and grabbed the stool and guitar.

"I need to give Daryl a bath," she replied coolly.

"If we all weren't facing the same circumstance, that would be funny," he gulped. "He's lucky. I didn't know bathing without a shower was this difficult."

The boy wasn't wrong. Self grooming wasn't easy when you don't have two hands. But that wasn't the only problem. Firstly, being naked outdoors is a risk enough exposing your bare skin with all the bugs and critters and hot sun. And even when they had a quarry, they didn't want to bathe in their own water supply. Even washing clothes and dishes was done off the banks as not to soil the drinking water. Secondly, it isn't as easy to clean yourself with one hand taking care of the water, leaving the other hand to clean, balance or protect yourself. Thirdly, by the time you have got your situation handled, the water's probably gone cold.

"Where do you want this?" he asked when they reached Daryl, crouching and kindling the fire.

"Right here's fine," she said placing the stool down near the fire.

"Ain't you got somewhere to be?" Daryl barked when he saw the kid looming causing Glenn to look helplessly at Louie.

The girl nonchalantly responded, "I promised Glenn I would teach him how to play. Sit." Daryl begrudgingly sat down on the stool and glared at her. After time, the campers couldn't afford to be shy or prude with the lack of privacy and safety. This, especially, wasn't Daryl's problem; his was that he wanted some alone time with Louie. They weren't granted much, after all.

"Ain't you a saint," he spat.

"Clothes," she demanded, ignoring his tone, before walking over to Glenn, telling him to sit down on the ground near the fire. She started with a warning."I don't know how to play very well. I only know four proper chords because someone taught me that every pop song has that many and that you could manage that way. I learned the others by ear and not very well if you listen carefully. I don't know the letters of the chords either, just where they are," she instructed him.

"That's fine," he spluttered. She sighed and put the guitar in his lap.

"We'll number the strings. One, two, three, four, five and six, okay?" she said placing his fingers over the neck and he nodded. She then showed him where his fingers went. "This is chord Afor the sake of argument. Strum that with your other hand holding these strings."

He complied and a very clumsy note came out. She smiled.

"Not so tight, let your fingers press not-"

"Hey!" Daryl interrupted with a foul tone. "I'm freezing here," he sat on the stool, arms crossed across his chest, knees tucked towards his stomach, practically nude save his drawers.

"Don't press so hard," she finished her thought while walking a few feet toward the naked man. "Keep strumming and get comfortable before I teach you the next chord."

Louie stood in front of him and grinned down at his large body. He only moved his eyes upward slowly to give her an aggravated glare. She let out a yelp of a laugh before dipping the pan into the hot water and poured it over his head. His body melted and let go of all tenseness, his muscles releasing pressure. She bit her lip from smiling at the state of his ease under the hot water. She went back to pour the water over his head and used her other hand to push his hair back so that it would rinse out properly.

"No soap?" he mumbled.

"Oh yeah," she said before reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a dry bar of soap. He grabbed it and started lathering his body while she poured the water over him.

"Good Glenn," Louie said over her shoulder, listening to the boy's strumming improve with each stroke. She saw him sitting hunched over, his eyes concentrated on the guitar not even paying attention to the most intimidating man being bathed. "Now move your pointer finger on string two and your ring finger on uh… three? No four. Strum? Uh, try moving your hand down a bar thing. Yeah, there you go. We'll call that chord B then."

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Daryl asked suspiciously up at her. Louie gave him a dry looking before dumping the water on his head.

"Alright, you learned enough," Daryl snapped at the boy as he was drying up with a towel she handed him. Glenn gave a sheepish smile at her.

"Who's in line for baths?" he asked her coyly.

"Scram!" Daryl yelled and Glenn gave a short cackle as he headed back to camp with the guitar. Louie bit the inside of her cheek from laughing as she looked down at the man sitting in front of her. Looking around for anybody near, she snatched the towel from his hands and threw it over her shoulder before straddling his lap. She ran her hands up his exposed chest and put her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, feeling his hands rest on her hips. She liked the feeling of her bare legs pressed against his naked back as she wrapped them around his waist. She contemplated doing the dirty deed then and there if their tent wasn't so distant. When she pulled away she watched him give her a slow grin.

"Look at all those freckles," she marveled at his face from the proximity. "Are there any more, I wonder?" she glanced down at his shoulders.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he purred into her cheek. She sighed and looked at him dreamily feeling euphoric in the moment.

"What would you do without me?" she asked sweetly. His smile dropped and he rolled his eyes.

"Prolly survive- ow! What the hell!" his face contorted into anger after she flicked his ear. Just as the anger faded, he gave her a devilish look.

"I'd be dead," he lowered his voice and pressed his forehead against hers. "'Cuz I wouldn't have a reason to come back when I didn't find Merle."

"Ding ding ding," she whispered before laying her lips on his neck. Daryl's head rolled back as he savored the feeling of the girl pressed against his body and catering to his carnal, most basic needs.

Both relished the moment of intimacy not realizing that just 100 yards away, a brick that lay at the foundation of the survivors' establishment would be pulled causing the debilitation of the group as a unit.

Sophia's disappearance would no longer be a mystery.

The group's unity would no longer be preserved. Everyone's relationship would be tested.

Especially that of a Georgian man and Michigan girl.