I do not own the Walking Dead.

Previously:

"Maybe you'd be better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe that's just another dream, maybe, maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself. Send me a postcard! Go on, there's the door. Let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine! But get one thing straight - if you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

Faye got the feeling that last sentence would have had more effect if she knew what democracy meant.

When no one protested, no one spoke, no one even moved, Faye could tell it was a big deal.

A big deal that had everyone scared. They feared the walkers, feared what was to come, feared for each other.

And right now, they feared Rick.

Another house, another area, another plan. This place wouldn't last long.

"Half an hour, I call it." Faye whispered to Carl as they hurried up to the house. The boy rolled his eyes at her, but she knew he felt the same. Lining up behind him, Faye now kept her mouth shut. Now was not the time to be joking.

Carl's hands gripped his pistol, a silencer now placed on the end. His hair was already dripping with sweat under his hat, and Faye imagined that hers didn't look any better. The boy still held onto the sheriff's hat, much to Faye's amusement. When the adult's were around, she switched from calling him dumbass to sheriff, often trying to knock off his hat while she was at it. It was the little things like this that kept them going, and the adults were always pleased to see a little childish behaviour coming from them.

Faye was broken out of her thoughts by a slam as Rick pushed the front doors of the house open, shooting a walker before T-Dog rushed in and bashed the second's head in. Now focused, Faye followed in after Carl, the two children heading to different parts of the house. While Carl moved forward through the house with his father, Faye headed up the stairs. T-Dog or Daryl would probably join her later on, but she could handle herself pretty well.

Of course, it had taken a while to convince the group of this.

Faye was sat in the car, bored and border-line sulking.

It had been a week since Carl had been allowed to join the raids, and despite her protests, Faye was still not allowed to join them. Apparently, quoting Dale hadn't been enough to sway their decision. Carl was annoyingly smug about the whole ordeal.

It was so unfair.

Faye's original plan had been to wait it out, eventually the adults would see that she was reasonable and patient.

However, Faye was neither of those things.

When Carl made the comment "You're a girl, stay with the women. We don't need you to come.", Faye's temper flared. He had been teasing her, but she was at the end of her rope.

Unfortunately for him, Andrea taught her well.

Faye uncrossed her legs on the back seat of the car before taking out her gun. Carol turned to her with a raised eyebrow when she checked how many rounds she had.

The older woman's voice was questioning when she spoke, despite the nickname. "Birdy, what you doin'?"

Faye didn't reply as she fit the magazine back in place with a click. Thirteen bullets, that was pretty good. She didn't actually want to use them, they hadn't found silencers for everybody so there would be plenty of noise, but it was nice to know they were there for an emergency. Looking out the window, Faye watched as Rick slammed the door open and the group went inside. This was her moment.

Reaching for the car door, Faye pushed it open and swung her feet around.

"Faye, what do you think you're doing?" There was no playing in Carol's voice this time.

"Where does it look like I'm going? It's unfair that Carl gets to go and not me. It's, it's sexist! Girl's can do everything boy's can and I'm not letting them push me around." Faye recited some of Andrea's words.

"Let me guess, did Andrea tell you that?" Lori pitched in. "Sweetie, Andrea's gone."

Faye frowned. "All the more reason to keep it going."

With that Faye jumped the rest of the way out the car. Carol was obviously reluctant to follow. "Faye! Get back here!" The woman hissed.

In response, Faye gave a thumbs up over her shoulder.

Instead of going in the front door, Faye quickly went to the back garden of the two story house. She had to be quick, or the others would notice. Peering over the fence, Faye saw a walker with facing away from her.

This was good, surprisingly. Now she could prove she was able to defend herself.

Gripping the wooden fence, Faye tried to pull herself over without attracting the walker's attention.

This failed, as when Faye dropped clumsily on her back with a thud, it snarled quietly and started to turn around. Without hesitation, Faye got up and pulled out her knife, immediately running towards the man. Before it could grab her, Faye jumped and plunged the knife through the skull. She yanked the blade out and the dead body began to fall forward onto her before she pushed it sideways so it fell to it's back. Faye took a second to look it, taking in a few breaths as her heartbeat slowed down again after the rush.

The blow was hardly a 'clean' stab through the eye, but it got the job done.

Faye decided to count that as her first knife kill, rather than the mess that had been T-Dog's truck.

Leaving the garden, Faye moved up to the back door. Faye turned the doorknob carefully and stepped into the house. She wanted to make a big entrance for her group, not the walkers.

Looking around her, Faye noticed she was in a hallway. She could hear movement in the next room and she carefully tread on the floorboards. As she looked down the hall, she spotted a doorway. Through it, Faye found herself looking into a kitchen. It must've been nice before the outbreak, only now the carpet was faded and dust lined the work tops and cupboards. Other than that, it looked relatively untouched.

And in the corner, crouching on his knees with his head practically inside a cupboard, was her best friend Carl. Faye smiled a little as she watched him bang his head before taking off the sheriff's hat and putting it on the floor by his bag.

The moment would have been funnier if a walker didn't also come into her view.

Faye bolted down the rest of the corridor and tightened her grip on the knife in her hand. How hadn't Carl noticed? Was a cupboard really so interesting that he didn't notice the rotting smell of a walker?

Faye heard his shout of surprise when he turned to see the walker as she got into the room.

As he reached for his gun that he must've placed on the ground, Faye was already behind the walker, stabbing the walker through the back of the head. When it still wriggled, Faye twisted the knife in an attempt to get the blade deep enough. Weak walker as it was, it was still adult sized, too tall for Faye to get straight into the brain every time. Rick burst into the room and Faye pulled the knife out with a grunt, the walker collapsing to the ground.

Faye took a breath in and out to calm herself.

Time to play it cool, it's not like her best friend nearly got eaten or anything. She just saved him like a badass, she wasn't even scared!

(That was a complete lie.)

Rick looked thoroughly confused.

Faye smiled sweetly. "Don't worry, I just thought I'd come in and save your son even though I'm not good enough to help raid a house. Oh, and the walker in the back garden? I took care of that one too."

Daryl wandered in. "House is clear. No walkers." The man raised his eyebrow when he saw her.

Faye snorted. "So, can I join in now? 'Cause way I see it, a 'little girl' just took out more walkers than a whole group of guys."

She knew it wasn't really like that. If they'd come across the walkers, the men would have taken them out fine. But still, Faye had a point to prove here.

Rick simply turned to Daryl for an answer. He frowned at her. "If ya stop the sass, then we'll see."

Faye grinned. "Awesome! You're the best!"

Carl was still silent when Faye went over and stood by him. Smirking, Faye bent down and picked up his hat, putting it on her own head. "Maybe I should be the new sheriff around here."

Carl scrambled to his feet to take the hat back as she started to walk around the room in it. "Hey!"

Faye switched back to the grin. "Do I look smug? I definitely feel smug."

Carl nudged her with his shoulder. "Shut up."

The girl simply laughed.

Getting to go on raids was a lot more simple now, there was no questioning whenever she got out the car to join the party.

Faye focused back on the task at hand and stood by a door, listening to see if she could hear a walker shuffling about. When she didn't immediately hear any, she held up her gun and pushed the door open, quickly turning around to see if there was anything hiding.

There wasn't. Running a hand through her damp hair, Faye sighed. She really needed to get it cut, the fringe was starting to compromise her left side vision.

Aside from that, her hair was thick, and didn't help in the heat whatsoever. If they ever had time, Faye guessed she could ask Carol to cut it. Unfortunately, they didn't have much of that to go around. Maybe she could look out for a clip next time they found a children's room.

Faye quickly checked around the room for anything useful. It didn't take long, the old bedroom was simply a mess of sheets and junk. Leaving that room, the girl walked to check the second room.

Once again, she stopped and listened. Green eyes narrowing, Faye held up her gun as she heard a rustle. Gently kicking the door open, Faye pointed her gun around the room, to find nothing.

Then, the girl jumped as there was a hoot, spinning round to find an owl by the window. An owl? She must have missed it, expecting a walker.

That was one weird owl. Faye had only ever seen a common barn owl before, this one was doing a funny thing with it's wings.

Light footsteps were coming towards the door, the girl assumed it was Daryl. When as raised crossbow came into sight, it was confirmed. The man glanced at her before staring at the bird.

"An owl?" She whispered, not wanting to alarm the animal.

"A dinner." He murmured back.

With that, an arrow was placed through the bird's eye.

"Kind of a small dinner."

"Pluck it. Try not t' butcher it."

Faye stared at the dead owl in her hands. Daryl had done this before, with another kind of bird. She'd got half way through when he stopped her, saying she was ruining it. Faye had protested at this point, saying he had just given it to her and told her to pull out the feathers. Apparently, though, her argument was invalid. She just watched as the hunter did it himself.

She was fine with trying again, wanting to show that she had paid attention to Daryl, but frowned.

This was the creepiest owl she had ever seen. The creepiest bird. She would have thought the creepiest thing, but she had seen some pretty weird walkers out there.

But it was eyeing her and Faye half expected it to get back up squawking and peck her face off.

Alright, maybe her imagination ran away with her a little bit.

Stupid demon-owl, giving her looks.

"Oi, you comin'? Not scared of a bird, are ya, Birdy?"

To say Faye was annoyed when Daryl picked up the nickname from Carol was an understatement. He didn't call her it as freely as Carol did, no way, but he did to annoy her, or speed her up if she wasn't moving fast enough. "Ain't afraid of a bird." The girl grumbled as she continued down from the stairs into the living room. The older women were already walking in as Faye picked off the first few feathers, carefully to not tear the skin too much.

When a figure sat next to her on the floor, Faye smiled as she looked up at Carl, who looked a little pleased with himself. The boy nodded back to her as he got out a can opener and she continued to pluck the demon-bird in her hands. The group gathered in the room and Rick paced around. When he noticed his son open one of the tins however, he stopped to pick one up and examine it.

Faye flinched as the man suddenly threw the can into the corner. He looked back over at the kids and Faye tightened the grip on her bird. The leader walked away though, his attention taken by T-Dog who hissed, gesturing to the approaching threat.

Everyone grabbed their bags and rushed out the back door, running back to the cars.

Faye frowned.

Forget what she said, half an hour was too much to ask for.

"So," The convoy had stopped and T-Dog was taking a group to the creek. "While they do that, why don't we hunt? I did okay with the owl, didn't I?"

Daryl slung the crossbow on his back. "Ya didn't chop it t' bits like last time, a' least."

Faye ignored the insult. "See? Didn't I earn a trip?"

Daryl would have probably gone on his own, maybe with Rick, if she didn't suggest it. But Daryl rarely ever took her hunting, saying she was too loud, and always asked if she could go. Hunting was cool now.

The man mulled it over for a few seconds before giving a little nod. "'Kay. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot." He turned to Rick. "Hey, while the others wash their panties, I'm off huntin', takin' Faye."

Rick nodded to the both of them before they headed off, and Faye waved to Carl.

This was great! He hadn't let her come with him in weeks!

Faye kept quiet most of the time, obeying Daryl's rule he'd put in place for her, but she eventually talked. She didn't really like silence.

"So, I'm thirteen now."

Daryl didn't look at her as he replied, eyes forward. "I know. You was teasin' Carl the other day over it."

Faye smiled over the memory. Yes, she'd teased the hell out of Carl.

The man continued as the two reached a train track, silently deciding to follow it. "What's it matter?"

"Well, I was thinking," Faye said her next words quickly. "'Cause it was kinda my birthday and I know they don't really matter anymore but I don't really mind myself so I thought maybe-"

"Spit it out."

"Can I try your crossbow?"

This was one of several things Faye had yet to accomplish. The second was finding out T-Dog's real name. The third had been why Shane's top was open, but she couldn't really ask that anymore, it would be really awkward. The fourth thing was finding out if Glenn was Korean, Chinese or Asian. Daryl had made jokes about Chinese and Asian, but was pretty sure Glenn had corrected him once, but she wasn't sure if he was being sarcas-

"No."

Faye blinked as she was brought out of her day dream.

Damn. Faye wasn't sure what other excuses she could come up with to use the crossbow.

But, she'd expected this answer, so had a back up request. "What about learning to use a rifle?"

Daryl raised an eyebrow at her. "What makes ya think ya gettin' a present, anyway?"

"I'm not!" Faye quickly covered up. "This is just me asking you to teach me how to use a rifle!"

The man turned away as they continued on the track. Faye stayed silent for a minute, feeling slightly defeated, before trying again. "So, can you teach me?"

"I could teach ya. Why not ask someone else?"

Faye answered immediately. "'Cause your cooler. And you take me hunting."

Daryl didn't argue with her answer.

The girl stared at his back for a few minutes, kicking the dirt with her boots, and he eventually seemed to notice. After a while, he turned his head slightly to see her. "Maybe."

Faye grinned. Maybe meant yes!

Well, she hoped it did, at least.

New determination in her step, Faye listened out for any movement in the bushes that could be animals, or walkers. Eventually though, Daryl stopped and Faye nearly bumped into him at the unexpected stop.

Looking up at him, he was staring intently at something. Faye followed his gaze.

There, in all it's walker-infested glory, was a prison.

Author's Notes:

Yay! Season 3! Prison time!

Thank you for the reviews, it's always nice to hear you thoughts. What do you think Faye's going to get up to? I have a lot planned ;)

So, I'll see you Wednesday for the next update!

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

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.