Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters, except for my OC characters

A/N: Hello everyone, here is the 1st chapter with the Cabot Ridge episode, with one major twist; Daryl will use what weapons he can find, but will keep his Glock 19 as his main handgun.

Reviews and comments will be appreciated.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts

Chapter 1: Cabot Ridge

After Daryl and Jess had gotten climbed in and drove off in Jess's white painted 1962 Ford F-150 pick-up. Both men had remained silent the drive back to the cabin, secretly mourning Will and Buck in their own way. While driving back to the cabin, Jess had offered Daryl his Glock 19 back...which he slowly accepted. The younger Dixon was glad that Jess was with him...as he was all that he had left, along with his brother, Merle.

Once they pulled outside of the cabin, both Daryl and Jess had climbed out of the 1962 F-150 and entered the cabin. After stepping inside, the younger man had walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Jess, respecting his half nephew's need for personal space and time alone, decided to try to bandage himself up; stitch up the bite mark or find something to hide it before he got any worse. He still couldn't believe what he and his half brother's younger son had witnessed; how a small number of zombies had ambushed and mauled both Buck and Will to death!

After he closed the door, Daryl had walked up to the sink in his bedroom and turned both faucets, having both the hot and cold water running at the same time. He had cupped small amounts of water in his hands underneath the outlet and splashed it over his face. The younger Dixon had glanced up back to the dirty stained mirror and glared, disgusted at himself for not ending his father's suffering. He wanted to shoot the son of a bitch for all the pain he put him and his brother through while growing up and when he had the chance...he couldn't bring himself to do it!

'What the hell is wrong with me? I had the perfect chance to end that old bastard's suffering and I just fucking stood there! Even Jess was disgusted with me!' Daryl mentally shouted, as he was just as angry and disgusted with himself for not pulling the trigger!

'I don't even know what to feel right now, to be thrilled or sad that 'man' is finally dead! After everything that son of a bitch did to me and Merle after Mom died...he was lucky those Walkers got to him first, because I was going to shoot that asshole when his back was turned!' The younger Dixon stated, while thinking back to every single day that Will had beat him and his brother, when he was sober or drunk off his ass!

He had secretly planned to kill his father before they had even saw or learned about the Biters...but they saved him the trouble. Daryl had glanced to his right, staring at the photo of him and brother, deer hunting out in the same woods tacked up to the wall. Merle had been kneeling and holding the deer's head up by its antlers. He had his left arm wrapped around his brothers right shoulder and holding a Horton Scout HD 125 crossbow in his right. The person who had taken the photo of them with the buck that day was Jess.

Daryl had then turned to glance back into the mirror, with a strong sense of self-loathing before bringing his right hand up and curled his fingers into a fist. He had immediately smashed his knuckles into the mirror, causing the glass to shatter. After getting that small amount of anger out of his system, he glanced towards down to the nightstand next to his bed and picked up every experienced hunter's best friend next to the hunting rifle...a Pathfinder hunting knife, with a stainless steel blade.

After he had calmed down, the younger man had opened his bedroom door and stepped out, seeing Jess standing next to a table in the center of the room.

"Daryl, come here. We need to work up a plan." His half uncle ordered, as had placed two tan brown large size Unisex hiking backpacks on the wood covered floor.

"Jess, have you ever seen anything like those before?" The younger Dixon asked, as they saw and heard a huge number of Walkers outside the house.

"No and if you had me told about it before, I'd probably call you a liar." The older man stated, with a look showing he still couldn't believe there zombies walking around.

"Listen, there's more of them out there." Daryl stated, as they could hear the Biters, snarling and growling outside through the thin wood wall and glass windows.

"They must've followed the tracks from our truck. We gotta go!" Jess exclaimed, as he realized the Walkers must've followed the tire tracks from the forest to their cabin!

"What we gotta do is kill every last one of those fuckin' things out there!" The younger man stated, showing he wanted to hunt down every Walker that was outside!

"Daryl, I know you're upset, but just listen; that sounds like a whole bunch of them out there and we don't have any military weapons to take on a large number of those things." His uncle stated, while rolling his eyes at how immature and reckless he was thinking and acting after losing Will.

"We've got to go now! Gather up whatever you think is useful in your backpack and meet me out by the truck." Jess ordered, due to thinking more clearly than the younger man as he knew it would be a matter of time before the Walkers tried to break the front door down.

"Alright. I'll search around the back and see if there's any fuel left we can use while we hit the road." Daryl stated, while thinking more levelheaded as he knew playing it smart was better than playing it stupid when it came to survival.

"Also Daryl, remember what we learned about them. Head trauma; attack the brain! That's the only way we know that kills them!" His uncle exclaimed, while reminding him that delivering a powerful swing from a blunt weapon or shooting them directly in the head were the only two methods that completely killed a Walker.

"And remember to keep it quiet! When you sneak out the back door, don't let them see you." Jess added sternly, as he and Daryl knew that the sound of the engine from the truck was what attracted the Biters and was how they were followed!

Daryl knew that his uncle was right; he had to be stealthy when it came to getting around the Walkers. He had to rely using either his knife or whatever blunt object he found and saved using his Glock or any other gun as a last resort.

"Here's a silencer for your Glock. It should muffle the gunshots so the Biters won't hear." Jess pointed to a makeshift silencer that he and Will had been working on two months ago on the table.

The younger Dixon had looked at the silencer and was impressed by the attention to detail both his father and Jess put into making it. The silencer was made by following the instructions of using two PVC pipes; one short, one long. Normally, making homemade silencers would be illegal, but given what was happening right here and now: it wouldn't matter. Daryl had picked up the silencer from the table and screwed it over the barrel, tightening it on securely so it wouldn't fall off while being fired.

That was when they saw multiple decayed arms punching through the windows and shattered glass falling onto the floor. Daryl and Jess slightly gasped and backed away in surprise, but quickly regained their composure. As the Walkers started pounding on the locked front door, Jess had pulled out his S&W Model 66, which he tucked into his pants waist underneath his black undershirt and orange hunting vest.

While the zombies had continued trying to claw their way inside, Daryl wasted no time in stuffing whatever items he thought would need into his hiking pack; four bags of MRE and three plastic bottles of energy drinks. He considered about taking the claw hammer, also on the table, but decided against it as the blade of his hunting knife would penetrate the decayed skull of the Walkers more easily than a measly hammer. Plus, he figured Jess would need it more than him, as he needed a blunt weapon when his .357 Magnum revolver ran out of ammo.

Before walking out the back door, Daryl had grabbed a box of .30-06 Winchester cartridge rounds. Needing to make sure it had enough ammo for when he acquired a Remington 700, the younger man opened the ammo box and chuckled softly to himself, as it currently held fifteen rounds. He had crouched down before turning the knob and opening the door, he had spotted a single Walker already outside the back of the cabin. But fortunately for him, it was too busy snacking on another Biter, that Daryl obviously assumed was killed by the one snacking on it. He now learned the Walkers would turn on and devour each other, especially if there was no 'fresh food' to consume.

Daryl had took his hunting knife out and crept up behind the Walker, as it was too busy gnawing off a chunk of rotted flesh from the complete dead Biter's right leg. He raised the knife over the zombie's head and just as it smelled him, the younger man had impaled the blade through the top of its skull. The zombie had gave one last growl, as the tip of the blade had penetrated its brain and collapsed flat face.

He had drawn out his Glock 19 while walking along the path and spotted another Biter, a female, blocking his path. Taking aim, Daryl had leveled the iron sight of his Glock with the zombie's forehead and pulled the trigger. The single 9mm round had penetrated the Walker's forehead above the right eye and it fell to its knees and then its left side. Thanks to the silencer, none of the other zombies had heard the gunshot and came running to where he was. The younger man had continued forward, following the dirt path, using the boulders and bushes for cover and stopped, as he approached the two sheds that both his 'dad' and Jess used: one, to skin the white tail deer they hunted the second, where they kept their hunting rifles.

Daryl had crouched down and crept up behind a Walker, that was tearing apart a garbage bag and searching for something that it could eat. He had sneaked up behind the zombie and impaled his knife through the back of its head. The Biter had made one 'gurgle' like sound before Dixon had pulled the blade out of its skull and pressed his right leg up and coldly pushed the completely lifeless corpse flat on its face. He had grabbed another box of .30-06 Winchester rounds, checked it and saw it held eight bullets.

Daryl had grabbed the Remington 700 bolt action rifle that had been left resting upward on the stock and started to load the gun. He had pulled back the bolt and started loading six rounds, one by one while pushing a .30-06 round on top of each other and slid the bolt upward. The younger man had placed the last two rounds into his backpack and grabbed the handheld red painted 5 gallon fuel container. He had broke into a fast run before placing the hunting sling over his left shoulder.

The younger Dixon had skidded to a brief stop, as he spotted a single male Walker lingering back and forth a larger shed that held another 5 gallon container. It was near a broken down Hyundai compact SUV that was completely beyond repair and unsalvageable. After waiting patiently for the Biter to turn around, Daryl had crept up behind the Walker and impaled the tip of his knife above its skull! The zombie had gave one last moaned growl before falling flat face on its stomach.

Dixon had collected the second fuel container and walked around the bend, entering an opening outside the cabin where he, Merle, their 'dad' and Jess had used as a trash disposal. The only problem was...it was crawling with six-seven Walkers! He crouched down while making his way behind a broken down and rust covered dark blue painted Ford four door sedan and thankfully, not one the Walkers had spotted or noticed him. Daryl gave a soft sigh of relief, as the Biters didn't spot him and after seeing there were a lot empty glass bottles for him to use a distraction. If the zombies were attracted to loud noise, maybe he could use that to his advantage.

Before he sneaked over a picnic table that his 'dad' had thrown away, Dixon had placed another box .30-06 Winchester rounds, which held seven rounds into his backpack. He had picked the empty glass bottle by the neck, mentally calculating on how far he was planning to toss it and if the Walkers in the clearing would hear it shatter into small pieces. Daryl had also took out his silenced Glock, having ready before he tossed the bottle. After throwing his wrist back and releasing the glass bottle, it flew overhead and smashed into the wooden fence that showed Jess's cabin and land was private property to trespassers wandering around or park rangers patrolling the woods.

Every single Walker in the clearing had snarled after hearing the glass bottle shatter. Daryl knew his plan had worked and immediately leveled the iron sight of his handgun with his eye as he aimed directly for each of the Biter's heads. He pulled the trigger seven times, firing a single silenced 9mm as he moved his right hand, left to right. The younger man smiled, as each Walker had collapsed after being shot only once and started to get cocky; thinking that the zombies weren't that hard to kill or outsmart. He had collected a third and final fuel container and started to make his way back to the front of the cabin.

The younger man had skidded to a stop, as he gasped by how many Walkers were patrolling around the front yard and Jess's 1962 Ford pick-up. He counted at least ten-thirteen Walkers and knew there was no way of sneaking past any of them. He drew out his Remington 700, crouched down into the kneeling position and took aim before pulling the trigger. He leveled the scope with his eye, glancing through the reticle and waited for a Walker to enter his line of fire. The moment two Biters crossed his scope, he pulled the trigger and both their skulls exploded; their heads shattered into a cloud of blood and rotted flesh before their headless bodies collapsed!

Daryl had immediately ejected the live round from the chamber and reloaded, as the remaining Walkers charged in! He had fired another single .30-06 Winchester round, passing through two more Biters skulls and watched them explode after the high caliber round obliterated their decayed heads! The younger man swiftly repeated the process, ejected the shell from the chamber and got ready to fire again. He fired another single round and only killed a single Walker this time.

"Daryl, come on! Get in the truck so we can the Hell out of here!" Jess shouted, as he had gotten into the cab of his 1962 Ford pick up while his half-nephew had searched and collected the fuel!

"Hey, I'm coming! I'm coming!" Daryl shouted back, as he had made a clear path straight to the truck and broke into a fast sprint with the remaining Walkers giving chase!

"Go, go, go!" He shouted as he climbed into the passenger side, but not before tossing the three gallon containers into the back of the truck and locking the door after closing it behind him!

"Hold on Daryl! This is going to get hairy!" His half-uncle ordered as he put the pedal to the metal and drove off at high speed!

Both Jess and Daryl sighed in relief as the Biters could not keep up with the truck and knew they were safe for the time being. Jess had gone at a much slower speed, as he didn't want to burn through all the remaining gas that was left in the tank. There was only two question's on both their minds: what the hell do they do now and where do they go?

A/N: There it is everyone, the ending to 1st chapter. The next chapter will be about the Sedalia level of the game, where Daryl will meet a handful of survivors.