I do not own the Walking Dead.

Previously:

Faye propped up her backpack near her head and lay down, looking towards the sky. Staying here wouldn't be so bad after all, she decided.

Turning on her side, Faye drifted to sleep.

Faye's night hadn't been as restful as she had hoped. Nightmares plagued her dreams, with images that she was beginning to realise would never fade away. Carol had woken her up once as she had been tossing and turning in her sleep.

When her eyes opened for the final time, light was flooding through the tent. Realising she had probably slept in, Faye sleepily pushed the sleeping bag away and pulled on her boots, tucking in the jeans. Noticing a brush that must have been laid out for her, Faye ran it through her hair quickly before leaving the tent.

Rubbing her eyes, Faye yawned and looked around the tents. She was right, everyone was already up.

"Hey." Faye turned around to see a nervous looking Glenn.

"Hi. Did I sleep for too long?"

Glenn shook his head. "No, it's alright. Have a peach, you're probably starving." He jerked out his arm so she could take one of the fruit. As soon as she took one, he nodded to her and walked away. When Faye looked in the direction he went, he saw him talking to Lori. Faye decided not to bother him.

Unsure what to do with herself, Faye decided to go visit the two horses in the stables she'd seen the day before. As she walked over, the sun immediately shone brightly in her eyes. Deciding wearing the hoodie would only make her sweat, Faye tugged it off and tied it around her waist before carrying on the walk.

"Hey, wait up!" A voice called from behind her. Faye stopped to look who it was, and was pleasantly surprised to see a boy around her age walking towards her. "Your Faye, right? I'm Carl!"

Faye blinked at his welcoming smile and happy tone. It was a surprising, but welcome, change to an adult attitude. She hadn't seen another child in what felt like years. "Hi." She replied, simply.

"Where are you going?"

"To see the horses. I wasn't sure what to do, so..."

The two began to walk as Carl continued. "Well, you slept in. You could've come with me to feed the chickens."

"Chickens?"

Carl hummed a yes. As the two walked on, Carl held up most of the conversation. He mentioned gun training, and Faye remembered she had to slip in somewhere that she already had a gun. When there was a pause, however, Faye questioned him. "You got shot, right?"

He nodded. "And you're just... okay with that?"

They reached the stables as he gave another firm nod. "I've got my family here, and Shane and Sophia, and now you too. I'm okay."

As the children walked inside, Faye noticed one of the doors were open. Upon investigation, Faye found a new horse. Carl followed her and smiled. "Did that one just wander in?"

Faye shrugged. "Must have. Should we tell Hershel?"

"Yeah." Carl shut the door of the stable, and they quickly went back to the house. After they couldn't see the farmer outside, they knocked on the door.

When Hershel saw it was the children, he smiled warmly. "Why, what can I help you two with?"

Carl grinned. "There's another horse in the stable!"

"Do you think it's the one Daryl had?" Faye smiled, still slightly smug that she had really heard the horse. Of course, no one else would actually know this.

Hershel looked slightly surprised, but pleased all the same. "That'll be Nervous Nelly, come home. I'll go check on her. Thank you for letting me know."

After this, Carl eyed the RV for a little while. He excused himself when Carol came over to speak to Faye. "Finally up, hmm?"

Faye nodded and brushed her fringe behind her ear. "Sorry I slept too long."

"Don't worry about it, you needed the rest. It wasn't a great night." Carol smiled. "Want to see Daryl?"

The younger girl immediately brightened up. "Yeah!"

Carol showed Faye to the door of the tent and when she stepped in, Daryl turned his head and gave a half smile. "Hey, kid."

"Hi! Are you okay?" Faye sat crossed legged on the floor.

"Got patched up, so yeah. You alright here?"

"I'm good. Tired, though. Didn't get much sleep."

Daryl lost the look. "I heard. I also heard ya shouted at Carol."

Faye felt guilty all over again. "I know, but I said sorry! Just got a bit mad, is all."

"Good." Daryl gave a little nod. "Everyone been okay with you?"

"Carol and Carl are nice. I didn't like Rick and Shane at first. Rick's okay though. Dale's cool too and Glenn gave me a peach, but I think he gave everybody one."

Slight amusement showed on Daryl's face. "Why's Rick okay, but not Shane?"

"'Cause Rick is nice. Shane was mean, then he was nice for a minute, but then he was mean again. And his top was open the whole time and no one knows why and it annoys me!"

Daryl snorted. "Shane's full of it, I ain't surprised. Ignore 'im."

"I don't think he likes me. I think it's 'cause I said that I was afraid of him and I wasn't afraid of you."

"Like I said, ignore 'im." Daryl seemed slightly smug that the girl had said that, but there were barely any traces of it on his face.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a minute or two as Faye settled on the floor, when Daryl spoke. "You told 'em you gotta gun yet?"

"No." Faye shook her head.

"I didn't tell 'em ya had one."

"They're gonna find out later anyway, there's gun training."

The conversation went on a little longer before Faye left to check on her backpack, once she realised she had left it unattended in the tent. Faye decided to keep the bag with her, just in case someone might look in it.

Walking out the tent, Faye noticed Carl leave the RV. When he saw her, he walked over, looking pleased with himself.

"What are you so ha-" She eyed his the side of his shirt. "What's that? You didn't have it before."

He looked around suspiciously before taking Faye behind a tree. Lifting the side of his top, Faye saw the gun. "I want them to teach me to use a gun! I got it from the RV."

Faye resisted the urge to slap her forehead. "You are a dumbass."

Startled at her words, Carl was going to protest, but was cut off when the girl continued. "You think they are going to let you use a gun when they find out you stole one? You think that's going to gain their trust?"

"What? Don't you want to learn too?"

"I already know!" Faye crossed her arms in annoyance. "My Dad taught me when this all started. But do you know how long it took for him to trust me with a gun? Doesn't matter that the wait was frustrating, it made him think I was mature. And you think they aren't going to notice? Shane and your Dad were policemen! They have been trained with guns and you don't think they'll notice?"

Carl frowned at her. "Why are you getting so mad?"

"Because you didn't think."

The boy sighed, but was undeterred. "You'll see. It'll just make them think I'm eager. I'm gonna go talk to Shane."

Faye rolled her eyes. "Fine, go ahead."

Carl nodded firmly. Walking back round the tree, he started to go to Shane, but turned back around. "I'm not a dumbass! You're not allowed to talk like that."

"What? It's not a swear and I needed a bigger word that idiot." Faye's smirked. "Tell you what, if they trust you with a gun, I'll never say it again."

Carl grinned. "They will!"

"Sure!"

"Carl is a dumbass!"

Faye poked her head around the tree and sung quietly, taunting Carl. The boy had been caught easily by Shane, and his parents were talking it over. Faye, however, was extremely pleased with herself.

Carl gave an unimpressed look. "You're not helping." He whispered back.

"Who said I was helping you, dumbass?"

He turned away and watched his parents talk, making a point of ignoring the girl. Faye frowned. Sighing, she came out from behind the tree and on the ground near him, hopefully unseen by the adults. "Look, I think you should be able to use a gun, too, you need to defend yourself. But you're doing it all wrong. Adults want to hear that you're mature and won't play with something that might shoot their faces off."

Turning his head towards the girl slightly and gave a small smile. Then, as Lori said something, he stood up and spoke. "I'm not gonna play with it, Mom; it's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you. But I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun."

Faye nodded in approval. That was more like it.

Rick said some more, and then Lori moved Carl's head up to meet her eyes. "You will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly and if I hear from anyone in this camp that you are not living up to our expecta-"

"He won't let you down." Rick said to his wife, but his eyes were on Carl.

"Yeah." Carl said firmly. "But can Faye come too?"

Faye scowled at the boy from her spot. She already knew how to shoot! She didn't need teaching!

The adults looked at each other. Dale spoke first. "We can't teach one and not the other." Rick nodded.

"Alright then, Faye, come out." Shane said. Faye's face reddened as she was found. Standing up, the girl stood besides Carl as Shane bent to their level. "You okay with learnin' to use a gun?"

"I already know. My Dad taught me."

Shane paused for a moment at the information, but continued. "That's good. But there's no harm in checkin' it over and testing your aim. We gotta find you the right size gun, too."

Here we go. Faye shook her head. "I've got that too."

"You've got a gun?" Rick said as Shane stood up. "Where'd you get it?"

"My brother gave it to me. I don't need another."

"Show us." Shane said. Faye could sense he wasn't joking around, and saw the annoyed look on Carl's face, and pulled the Glock out her backpack. "You had this the whole time? You should have told us you had it."

"I did!" Faye retorted and Shane raised an eyebrow. "Daryl knew!"

Rick sighed. "You still should have told me or Shane. Mind if I look it over?"

"It's a Glock 19 and only has two rounds left in it and the safety is on." Faye held the gun up to show them, but didn't hand it over. Rick and Shane looked at each other for a moment before scolding Faye once more.

After this, however, the subject was dropped and the two children were taken to the cars.

"So, the first thing you want to do is check the-"

Shane had taken ages to pick out a gun for Carl and give her the right bullets, so Faye was beginning to ignore his slow explanations and prepared her gun by herself. Once she heard the click of the magazine, she flicked off the safety and turned to look at the targets. Not noticing Carl had stopped to watch her, Faye raised the pistol.

Aiming at the can, she fired.

There was a moment of silence before Carl spoke, nudging Faye with his arm. "That was cool until you missed."

"Shut up."

Shane walked forward. "Like I said, you might know how to load it quickly, that don't matter if ya can't hit the target. Now, if ya wait for me to help Carl, we can work on aiming."

It wasn't Faye's fault she missed. The target was too small and too far away. Totally not her fault.

A small competition began between the two children, and Shane took advantage of this. Faye had tried again with Carl, hitting her target, while Carl missed his first. They both hit the next, then Faye missed, and so on. Either way, by the end, they were both hitting the cans.

"Hey!" Carl said to her as they walked to the cars. "I remember the word."

"The word for what?"

"Hypocrite!" He said quietly, as if whispering a secret. "You're a hypocrite! You call me a dumbass for hiding a gun, and then you have one yourself!"

"One: I didn't take the gun, it was mine. Two: I didn't hide it in plain sight. That makes you a dumbass and me smart." She whispered back.

"Well, yeah, but you're still a hypocrite." Carl crossed his arms.

"Well, yeah, you're still a dumbass." Faye smirked, knowing it annoyed the boy. Carl was about to reply, when his Lori walked by him, patting him on the shoulder as they climbed into the car.

"I think we should stop calling each other names. Mom or Dad might hear."

Faye shrugged. "Your parents, not mine."

Carl didn't reply, and Faye realised he was probably unsure whether she was going to talk about her family or not. She wasn't, but didn't want to ruin the boys mood. Smiling at him, she told him how they might be allowed to help search for Sophia. This immediately brightened him up.

On the ride home, Carl held up most of the conversation. Faye didn't mind, she spoke whenever she needed to.

The boy was becoming her friend.

It was from then that Faye began to realise how much finding this girl meant to Carl. She was his friend. The idea of finding her gave him hope.

Carl was easy to get along with, he was cheerful. Faye decided she wanted to keep it this way, which meant they had to find Sophia.

So, without even meeting the girl, Faye decided she liked Sophia. If one little girl could make everyone hopeful, then Faye wanted to be her friend too.

What Faye had seen was more than enough to give her nightmares. It haunted her when she was alone, awake or asleep.

What Faye had seen was what she wanted to keep away from Carl and Sophia.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for all the reviews, they make me smile!

Is Daryl OOC here? I thought, since he was trying hard for Sophia, he would at least try to be nice with Faye. I'm not sure if I'm happy with his part, so let me know if it's to your standards! :)

The next chapter will be up on either Tuesday as I have some homework to be getting on with, but I've been writing instead.

Please review, I love to hear your thoughts and advice.

Thanks

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