Authors note: it's been a really long time, so you will have to bear with me, I'm just getting back into this. I'm also currently working on my own novel to be sent to publishing so it may be a little while between updates. My promise is I will try and be frequent though.

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Thanks for reading.

Chapter 3

Dean and Sam had fallen behind the group as they followed the Priest into the town. Zoe was trudging along a little way ahead of the Winchesters, her eyes firmly planted in front of her.

"So, what did you do before all of this started?" Carol's voice cut through the silence and almost went straight through Zoe's ears.

"What did I do?" Zoe looked up to see the older woman had fallen into step beside her.

"Yeah, for work," Carol said kicking a stone along the ground.

Zoe glanced over her shoulder at the brothers, both of them were engrossed in whispered conversation. Part of her wanted to be back there with them but she knew full well that they were staying back for a reason.

"Killing people, hunting things. Pretty much exactly what I'm doing now, with less dead people," she replied with a shrug.

Carol looked her up and down before realising the girl wasn't kidding and with a nod she edged away from her and continued on next to Daryl.

She hadn't always been that way around people, it had only been in the last few years that it had started. Demon hunting can do that to a person. Hell did worse things though. The three of them had to carry with them the scars from a lifetime worth of fighting, they spent every waking second with the memories of all those people they couldn't save. Worse still they spent their days with the memories of those people they did save, and the knowledge that it was almost all for nothing. Dean and Sam would never admit it, but they struggled for the first few months knowing that their work had been in vein, that all the demons they had exorcised, all the ghosts they had destroyed, all the bones they had burned and all the lives they had changed was just so the world could be thrown into absolute chaos. She glanced over her shoulder at the two brothers. They walked the same she noted, the same tall, effortless stride that came with knowing exactly who they were and what they were doing. They were hunters so they were quiet, forever listening to the world around them, seeing things most people missed. Zoe's eyes trailed over the rest of the group, her eyes eventually falling on Daryl, and with a jolt of intrigue she saw that he moved in much the same way. Something in the set of his jaw and the determination in his eyes made Zoe do a double take. He was almost exactly like the Winchester boys, the way he held himself, the way he never really seemed comfortable and was always on edge. It was almost as if he had been there experiencing the same things they had. Seeing a malicious spirit, being possessed by a demon or having any encounter with the supernatural changed a person, and something in the depths of Daryl's hard blue eyes made Zoe think there was something he was hiding.

As they came in to the town Rick told Daryl and Carol to get as much water as they could carry from the rain water tanks and wells down the road and take it back to camp whilst the rest of them looked for food and any supplies they could find. Even though the Priest, Gabriel as the trio had learned, had said he had cleared everything out, Rick still didn't trust him and wanted the place checked over before they left. Dean, Sam and Zoe were about to go through one of the other stores when Rick called them back.

"I want Dean and Zoe to stay with us, Sam, go with Daryl and Carol and check through the buildings as you go then get water and we will meet you back at the church," Zoe and Sam both looked to Dean, his face dark.

"No," he stepped towards Rick, "I'll go with those two, Sam and Zoe will stay with you."

"Dean, it's fine," Sam started only to be cut off by his brother.

"No way Sammy, you're not going off by yourself with these guys, you stay with Zoe and make sure nothing happens you hear me?"

Something in his tone told everyone that he was not to be questioned, and it was for that reason that Rick simply gave Daryl a nod before signalling for everyone to follow him into the shop.

"C'mon," Daryl mumbled nodding his head towards the road leading out of town, "we better get moving."

Zoe turned to make a comment to Dean but he had already gone, trudging beside Carol quietly, his shoulders set and his head up.

"Stay with me," Sam draped his arm across Zoe's shoulders and the two headed into the building after the others.

The second they walked through the doors Sam's arm dropped away from Zoe's shoulders, his eyebrows narrowing. Zoe could smell it too, instantly. Sulphur.

"You smell that?" Zoe looked up at Sam briefly, his face speaking more words than he ever needed to.

"Let's just get in and out of here as fast as we can okay," he said in a hushed tone, his eyes falling on the group crouched down in front of a gaping hole in the floor.

"Water's been coming down that hole a while," everyone was staring down into the hole filled with walkers sloshing back and forth pointlessly.

Sam gave Zoe a look and before she had a chance to stop him he was already talking, "water hasn't been coming down here a while. It's a trap."

Rick's eyes met Sam's, "don't be ridiculous. This place is dilapidated beyond repair, its weather damage. Nothing else."

Sam seemed to bristle at the blatant disregard of his comment, but before it could go any further the group was already plotting to plunge into the water and retrieve whatever they could find. One after the other the jumped down into the water pulling the shelving back against them as a type of barrier against the horrifically bloated and decayed zombies reaching out for them. Zoe on the other hand stayed on higher ground, she figured not only was her presence down there not needed but would also make this more difficult to manoeuvre around if need be. She glanced around at the empty space surrounding her, benches and shelving overturned in an effort to get as many useful supplies as possible.

The world was a wreck and this tiny town was no different, even photo frames had been smashed and tell-tale signs of blood on the shards of glass glinted in the thin streams of sunlight. She bent down to retrieve a photo frame off the floor, an image of a woman and young child standing in front of the shop some years ago. Zoe could see it by the woman's clothes and the state of the building that it would have been back when the shop first opened. She was investigating the woman's pale face and bright orange hair when a searing pain shot through her chest, her hand digging into the frame forcing tiny slivers of glass to pierce her skin.

I knew I'd find you eventually, a voice hissed inside her temples, couldn't resist that precious little photo could you?

Her blue eyes went down to the blood stained edges of the frame as the photograph within started to bubble, a horrific image of a man about the same age as Zoe appearing in its place, his eyes a startling shade of blood red.

She tried to let go of the frame but her hands seemed to be working completely independently of her body, "Let me go."

Unlikely, the voice replied, I want to know what it is you're doing all the way over in Atlanta. You owe me that much.

Her knees buckled and she hit the rubble covered floor with a thud, "I don't owe you anything you sick fr…"

She was cut short, the pain in her chest growing as if someone were squeezing her heart, she let out a groan of pain, her eyes closing as she desperately tried to drop the frame.

I know you and those little Winchester brothers have put wards up. I know they used angel magic to keep you from me, but it won't work. Blood bonds are much, much stronger than magic.

Every time she twisted her hands around the frame the shards dug deeper into her skin and more blood pooled around her.

The second your blood hit that glass I knew where you were. Granted it won't last, and I can only track you as long as you are holding that frame but that doesn't mean anything. I will hunt you, I will find out who you're travelling with and believe you me, little sister, I will kill you.

White hot tears had flooded her vision and just as she was starting to feel like she couldn't get another breath in two strong hands were over hers, the photo frame being painfully yanked from her hands as she fell forwards onto the floor, coughing and taking enormous gulps of air.

"What the hell were you doin?" she looked up from the ground, her eyes met with shimmering blue ones as she tried desperately to compose herself. Her head fell forwards once more, her eyes focusing on scuffed, blood stained brown boots and a crossbow lying in front of her.

"What're you doing here? I thought you went for water," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"I did," Daryl squatted down in front of her, his hands clasping around the crossbow, "but I remembered seeing a big tub here and figured we could use that to get water so I came back to get it."

Zoe managed to sit back, her eyes still blurred by tears as she took in his grime coated face, "how'd you know I was in trouble."

He adjusted the crossbow in front of him, an awkwardness taking over his usually powerful frame, "I've seen my fair share of weird stuff to know that someone kneelin on the floor bleedin over a frame ain't normal."

She wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, her pale blue eyes meeting his electric ones and for a moment she could have sworn she saw something familiar behind those irises. There was something about his tone, the way he had spoken to her that sparked a curiosity within her.

"Thank you," she whispered, finally managing to tear her eyes away from his.

She was about to say something else when Sam's voice echoed out from inside the hole, her eyes automatically going over to the broken floorboards.

"Zoe, we need some help, we've got a lot of stuff down here," as she turned to look at Daryl though, he was already gone, half jogging by the window to catch up with Carol and Dean. Zoe looked back down at her blood soaked hands, the wounds already healing over and only thin white lines showing where the glass had dug into her skin. They were in way over their heads, they knew that already, that was why the three of them never stayed around people too long. It meant they were vulnerable, exposed, and as Zoe edged her way towards the broken in floorboards she wondered if maybe this time was different. Maybe this time she had sentenced everyone to death already.