Chapter 3

-What did you think happens in the winter?-

"No. No. NO!" She awoke with a start, heart pounding and thrashing against her restraints.

"Hey, easy now…" A soft voice brought her back to reality. "Settle down."

She remembered where she was and blinked the sleep from her eyes. It was dawn. Daryl was standubg in front of her, she looked up into his eyes, they were blue. "Sorry." The nightmare was fading from her memory.

He nodded. "Who's Michael?"

That caught her off guard. "How do you know about Michael?"

"Ya talk in yer sleep."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. So I've been told."

"By Michael?" He was smirking again.

"None of your business."

He was chuckling when Rick walked up to them, water bottles in hand. He passed one to Daryl. "Did our guest give you any trouble last night?"

"Naw." He said dismissively before taking a swig of the water. She couldn't help but stare at the droplets that dripped down his chin. She was so damn thirsty.

Rick was watching her closely. "It's time for us to continue our conversation." He spoke matter-of-factly.

A cracking sound in the woods behind her grabbed their attention. Daryl raised his bow and Rick drew his gun, using a hand to signal for silence from the others. She craned her neck back trying to see the source of the sound. She looked up at Rick, he was frowning.

"Look, I swear to you, there's no-one out here aside from us." She whispered to the men standing over her. "I've been out here for a week, looking for people and you're the only ones I found… alive anyway."

Rick nodded and signaled people to move. He and Daryl advanced into the woods behind her, the others circled together in the clearing. Her heart started racing, she couldn't see what was going on. She couldn't even feel her hands anymore. Terrified, she willed herself to be invisible.

The woods erupted into activity behind her. Tyreese raced past her, armed with a baseball bat. She could hear short shouts, dull thumps, moaning and crashing. Definitely biters out there, more than one by the sounds of it.

A figure staggered out of the woods two meters to her left, followed by another. The way they moved told her they weren't human. They were focused on the people in the clearing and didn't notice her. She stayed as still as possible, watching them advanced on the group. The woman with the swords stepped forward, waiting for them to come closer. They were all transfixed on the pair that they didn't see the one coming in from the other side of the clearing.

Turn around, turn around, turn around Archer chanted in her head, as if a psychic link would miraculously open.

It was getting closer, too close to the woman holding the little kid… Archer couldn't take it anymore.

"BEHIND YOU!" She screamed.

She watched as the Asian guy spun around and took out the biter coming in from their backs. A hungry moan to her left drew her eyes back to the walker who had just now noticed her. She tried to kick her legs free of the sleeping bag as she pulled on her restraints. If it came for her feet she might be able to kick its head in.

If it came for her chest she was toast.

She pulled desperately at her arms, her mind racing, searching for some alternative. Archer could feel the bindings cut into her wrists, but they held firm. The walker was three feet away when an arrow pierced its head with a soft thunk. It dropped like a rag doll, head landing in her lap.

She sat there looking at a pair of lifeless eyes staring back at her. Daryl broke her trance by hauling the walker up by whatever tattered thing had once been its coat and tossing it unceremoniously aside.

"You ok?" he asked.

She nodded. "I think so. Can't feel my arms though.." She had to work at keeping her voice from shaking too hard. "Can you check them? Did I get bit?"

Daryl circled her, presumably to check for bite marks. "Naw. Yer good."

Relief flooded through her and she sagged against the tree.

Rick emerged from the woods. "Everyone ok?" A chorus of "Yesses" and a quick check showed everyone was there and in one piece. He turned to look at her. "You okay Ms Archer?"

"Yes. Although I would really, really appreciate it if you'd untie me now."

Rick looked skeptical.

"There was a walker behind us, she saw it and yelled a warning." The Asian piped up. "She didn't have to, and it drew their attention to her. She'd be dead if it wasn't for Daryl."

She looked at Daryl, who was retrieving his arrow from the walker's head "Thanks for that." She said softly.

He shrugged.

Rick nodded. "Okay Ms Archer. You've been co-operative so I'll untie you. You just be sure not to give us reason to tie you back up."

He waited for her to nod in agreement before he untied her bindings. When the ropes slackened, her arms fell limply to the ground. She hissed as the blood returned, pins and needles jabbing her. Rick handed her a bottle of water, she looked at it longingly. "Just give me a minute. My arms are asleep."

"Fuckssakes" Daryl cursed, slinging his bow onto his back, he crouched in front of her, elbowing Rick out of the way. He grabbed her arms and pulled them into her lap. She winced as seized muscles moved, causing him to frown. His strong hands rubbed her arms brusquely trying to get the circulation back. He was careful to avoid her blistered wrists. When she could feel her fingers again, she pumped her hands, opening and closing them until she could do so without pain.

"Better?" He asked, stepping back.

"Much." She reached for Rick's water bottle and promptly dropped it. Her hands just would not hold the weight.

"Here." Daryl caught it and unscrewed the lid. He held it up to her mouth and tipped it so she could drink.

"Thank you." She said after downing the whole bottle.

Rick appeared with another one. This time, she didn't drop it when he passed it down to her. "Come, sit by the fire." He offered her his hand to help her stand. She took it. "We can talk while you warm up."

She nodded and followed him on stiff legs. Daryl was close behind her.

"About that conversation," She started. "I'm ready to tell you why I was watching you." She looked at him for permission to keep talking. He nodded. "We have a place, not far from here. It's safe. It's secure. The biters, or walkers, or whatever you call those things can't get in. We've built ourselves a little community." She took a swig of water and quickly scanned the group, they were looking at her attentively. "In order for that community to thrive, we need it to grow. We have to add people. Unfortunately not everyone that comes our way has been…" She trailed off, not sure of the right words. "Let's just say there are some rabid dogs out there that we'd rather not bring home."

Some people in the group nodded. They understood. That was good.

"So we have this process. We send out scouts to the edges of our territory and look for people. Ideally, we want small groups, families and such. We watch them for a few days before approaching them. If they're trouble, we just let them walk by. If they don't know we're here, then they can't trouble us. When I spotted you, I had to watch you. You're a big group, and that's caused us some problems before. So I had to be sure. I didn't want to bring trouble home."

"Why didn't you just say so yesterday?" Glenn asked.

"I wasn't sure about you yesterday. I hadn't yet made up my mind to talk to you, and then Daryl snuck up behind me and I ended up tied to a tree."

"What did you expect? You were stalking us." Tyreese shook his head.

"I don't blame you for that. You didn't beat me when I wouldn't talk and you didn't abuse me either." She shrugged "That speaks well for you."

"What made up your mind?" Rick asked.

"You didn't let me get bit." She shuddered a little. "It would have been the easy thing to do. If I turned.. Well, I wouldn't be much of a threat." She thought of Michael and wondered how he'd feel when he got the news. How would the others take it? Would they even have found her?

She pushed those thoughts aside. "Anyway, the decision is yours now. I'll take you to our place. You can meet the people there and take a look around. If you feel comfortable enough, you can stay for a week. We'll see to it that you're warm, fed and safe. You can see how we work, and learn how we operate. At the end of that week, you decide if you want to stay, and we decide if we'll keep you."

Rick seemed skeptical. "You'll just let us walk?"

"Yes. At any time, you can walk and you can keep your weapons with you. There's no commitment. You do have to promise to leave peacefully if asked. Most people stay, at least for the winter." She paused taking in all their faces.

"Look, you're not from around here, so you need to know a few things before you make your decision." She took a sip from her bottle as she decide how best to explain things. "In about a six weeks, it'll get damn cold. The benefit of that is that the dead slow down. Any of them outside and not under cover freeze."

"Freeze?" Glenn echoed what the rest of his compatriots were thinking.

"That's right, at about minus ten the biters outside freeze solid. Anything inside without heat is pretty damn slow. They're not much of a threat then. It's going to be the weather you have to worry about. You're not going to be able to live off the land. Anyone not prepared will get desperate and desperate people do desperate things…"

Glenn's eyes narrowed. "What if we say no? What if we don't want to meet your people?"

She shrugged. "Then I expect to be let go. If you like, I'll stay with you a few more days. I'll go over some maps with you, tell you a few places to avoid. I promise my people won't look for you."

There was weariness to Rick when he spoke next. "Well, you've given us something to think about."

She nodded. "If you like, I can go back to my tree while you talk about it."

"I'd appreciate that." Rick was calm; she could tell he was judging her. "Before you do, we've got three questions for you."

She shrugged. "Shoot."

"First, how many walkers have you killed?"

"I don't know, more than forty, less than enough. I never counted. "

He seemed satisfied with that answer. "Next question: How many people have you killed?"

That caught her a little off guard. She thought about lying, but had a feeling Rick would know. "I'm not sure, exactly. I've been in some skirmishes. I'm not exactly sure of how many people I killed in those. I'd say maybe five or six?"

The man had a poker face. She couldn't tell what he thought of her answer. "Last question: Why did you kill them?"

"Most of it was in defense of my people. That's the skirmishes I was talking about. There was one in defense of myself. That was pretty early on, before I knew to avoid the living as well as the dead. The last two were in defense of someone else."

"Someone you knew?" Rick prompted.

"No. Yes. I mean, back then, I didn't know her." She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to keep the memory out. "I told you, we watch people. I didn't like what I saw. I took steps to extricate her from that situation."

"Alright, thank you for your honesty."

She knew a dismissal when she heard it, so she headed back to her tree. Archer stood with her back turned to the others, facing the woods and tried not to listen to their conversation. The sun was up now, illuminating a fall canopy of golds, reds and peaches. In the daylight hours the woods seemed less threatening. She took a deep breath, taking in the crisp air. It was good to be back on her feet.

Daryl appeared beside her, she hadn't heard him approach and he startled her.

"What are you, some kind of ninja? That's TWICE you've snuck up on me." He shrugged but didn't look at her. "It's disconcerting." She muttered.

They stood there in silence for a while. She could hear the low murmur of conversation behind her. "Shouldn't you be back with the others talking things over?" She looked over at him. "It's a big decision. Don't you care what is decided?"

"Told 'em I'd go." He said simply.

That surprised her. He didn't seem to be the trusting type, or the social type. She'd have thought he'd want no part of her place. She told him so and he just shrugged.

"Daryl you are full of surprises."

"Your name really Archer?" He asked.

"That's my last name."

"What's your first?"

"Emma."

"Daryl Dixon."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr Dixon."

He grunted.