Daniela's POV

We walked side by side and I couldn't help but stare at him without making it obvious. I know this is the apocalypse and that survival was the only thing that mattered right now but, he was HOT! He was beyond hot, and I couldn't help but stare.

His arms were so built, I mean come on, he even had a crossbow! My dad had taught me how to use one when I graduated college, then he bought me the one I now have which I cherish more than anything. His was bigger and different but I found it all so attractive.

It wasn't far that we walked to meet back up with Phillip and Trinity. They were talking to each other when Daryl and I arrived.

"Hey guys?" I said, getting their attention.

They turned to us, "This is Daryl.." I didn't know what their response would be so I didn't know what else to say. "Daryl huh? I'm Phillip and this is Trinity." Phillip finally said.

Daryl nodded and I said, "Let's go meet up with Jason".

A couple minutes later we found Jason and Richard. They were just walking out of a building when we surprised them around the corner, "Daniela! Ive told you thousands of times not to come up to me like that!" he said frustrated with me.

Then he looked up and saw Daryl, "Who's this?" he puffed his chest. "Jason, I was out in the woods..." "You were out in the woods?! Alone?!" he yelled at me.

"Stop it, I was out hunting, and I came upon Daryl, he's alone, he lost his group, thought we could use his help." Jason glared at me with an evil look, "How'd you lose your group?" he asked Daryl,

"We were attacked." He answered.

"Where were you?" Jason asked.

"At a prison." Daryl answered.

"Hmm ok, guess we'll have to see how things go with you. This is Richard and I'm Jason, you sure you don't have anyone else with you?" he asked.

"No, I don't" he answered. "Ok then well here's the thing, I'm in charge in this group, everything must go through me, if you don't like it, then you can leave. But I'm not having anybody ruin what we have."

"I aint ruining nothing!"

"Alright then." Jason said. Then we all walked back to the camp.

Daryl's POV

I didn't know what to expect from this new group, I didn't know if they would accept me but I followed the girl as she not so conspicuously watched me. We met up with her group and I met her older brother, tough guy, overprotective who set his rules straight and forward. I could respect that.

I followed them back to their camp. It wasn't far, they were on foot.

We arrived at two huge metal doors, there were snipers at the top of each end. When they saw the leader, someone came and opened the doors and let us inside.

There were walls here, big walls, surrounding a mansion in the middle of the land. I looked at the girl and she began to speak, "My brother and I pretty much established the camp and made it what it has become today. When everything happened my brother and I found refuge in a orphanage which eventually got overrun. After that happened we fled along with 9 of the surviving orphans and we found this mansion in the middle of the woods, on 16 acres of land to be exact. After a couple weeks and after recruiting several others we were able to build walls, our walls aren't the best and they don't surround the whole area, only about 8 acres but its good enough." she said.

"Do you have guards on the walls?" I asked.

"Day and night" we haven't suffered a breakthrough in over 4 months now. We have been very fortunate really but, we also have a lot of mouths to feed." She said as she signaled for me to follow her through the house as the others went around.

"Here follow me, I want to show you something." she said and so I followed her.

She took me through the house it was massive and dark but there were plenty of supplies. I followed her up the stairs and into a centered hall that led out the back door to a balcony that oversaw a huge backyard. The sun was now about to set and it shined bright in our eyes. When I looked over the balcony, I saw that there were kids, there were tons of kids, all working on something out in the backyard. These were just children...

"Hey kids!" she yelled out. Then they all came running up the stairs to greet her. She came down to her knees and greeted them with hugs and kisses. "You're back Daniela!" they all said. These were only kids most of them anyway and their survival depended on the adults.

Daniela's POV

I decided to show Daryl what we were all about, what our group had become and what we fought for. It was the kids who we had saved from the orphanage that I cared for. Jason and I had two other siblings they're twins a girl and a boy only 8 years old, Katherine and Kody. Our parents died in a car crash when the twins were only babies, Jason was 18 and I was 15, we took care of them their whole life's.

We cared a lot for the survivors of the orphanage the kids range from 6-15 years old. We had been training them since the beginning, to fight, we weren't always guaranteed safety and we couldn't always be here for all of them. So we trained them, we taught them how to hunt, how to shoot, how to use a knife. There are only 16 adults in the group, we've been wanting to grow for a long time now, keep our group strong with more people. But not everyone was willing to help the children.

"Hey guys! I want you all to meet Daryl!" I said. They all greeted him kindly. Daryl showed no expression on his face, I didn't know what he was thinking, I just knew he was surprised.

"Alright guys start setting up for the night okay, make sure you guys know your shifts, those of you who have them anyways." I said then they all went their own way. Katherine and Kody stayed with me, "Daryl, this is Katherine and Kody my twin brother and sister. Daryl nodded and Kody and Katherine shyly said hi.

"You must be hungry" I told Daryl, "We're about to eat dinner, come join us."

For dinner we all met at the center of the mansion, there was a fire place where we all sat near to and ate as a family. Daryl joined us that night, didn't really say much, he wasn't a say much guy I could tell. After dinner I showed him where he could sleep, the mansion had 23 bedrooms in it, as for the kids we had all the boys in one hallway and the girls in another. The adults all had their own rooms.

I was on watch that night so I told Daryl, "Sleep good, Ill see you tomorrow" I said. Then left the room.

I stood guard that night at the doors.

The moon was shining bright that night and I couldn't help but stare up at it and reminisce on what it use to be back then, how my life was, how everyone's life had completely changed. Then I heard a sound and I turned back only to see that it was Daryl, "Can I join you?" he asked.

"You should be getting some rest," I said.

"Na, I'm good." he answered. As he sat next to me resting his crossbow on his lap. "What kind of cross bow is that?" he asked me. "Its a ******360, my dad bought it for me for when I graduated college, he wasn't able to give it to me himself but It meant a lot when my grandparents finally gave it to me."

My dad had bought the crossbow for me when he first began teaching me how to shoot at the age of 13, then he bought me this crossbow but didn't want to give it to me until he thought I was ready. When he passed my grandparents didn't know about it so when I graduated college I decided to buy myself one and that's when they realized that the cross bow dad had left behind was meant for me.

"I like it, its nice" Daryl said.

"Thanks, I like yours too." I said.

"Can I ask you a question?" I said. "mmhmh" he answered.

"How long have you been alone?" I was curious because he looked like he was looking for something the whole time I followed him, not something to hunt, more like someone.

"Not long, I was with a girl, a survivor from my group but, I went out for a hunt, when I came back, she was gone. I tried looking for her but couldn't track something that wasn't there." he answered.

I nodded and then understood that he hasn't been alone the whole time. That he was just looking for someone he had lost.