His side hurt. That was the first thought that crossed Daryl's mind as he drifted awake, blinking at the harsh sunlight hitting him in the face. The second thought was much clearer and urgent…

'What the fuck happened?'

He bolted upright (or tried to really) and grabbed for his bow as his side screamed in protest, swinging his head around looking for walkers. It was then he noticed the other person sitting a few yards away, covered in blood and grime with two walker bodies around her.

"Woah buddy. Take it easy." She muttered, lifting her hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Who're you?" he demanded vertigo crashing over him as his torso swayed, barely keeping him upright.

"Ramsey." Her eyes were on him, trained on the bow that he had pointed at her "I'm the one who saved your ass." Her hands gestured to the walkers around them and then his side. He took a quick glance down, vision swimming in pain. The arrow was still in his side, but around it were fresh bandages and there was cloth around his side, securing the bolt in place.

"Thanks." He muttered through the pain, eyeing her still, waiting for any sudden movements

"Y'know I left the crossbow with you as a sign of trust." The girl deadpanned, "I mean seriously."

"The fuck kind of name is Ramsey?" Daryl questioned, ignoring her jab as he lowered the bow, relaxing slightly but ready to aim again if needed.

"My last one" god she had to be a teenager with that kind of snark, he would bet money. It also is what made him fully put down the bow, he may have only been looking for Sophia, but he wasn't going to not bring this girl back, especially since she was alone.

"You alone?" he had to ask, as he tried to recover more of his bearings, his side hurt like a mother and his head wasn't much better.

"Yeah." He almost missed the way her eyes hardened, but he noticed "you?"

"…Yeah" he knew the look, she knew the answer before she asked, lying wouldn't help, even if he was inclined to at the moment, which he wasn't. A wide grin stretched across her face, even under the dirt and blood it made her look like a mischievous pixie… he blinked at that thought, he really did hit his head.

"Lemme guess…" he fixed her with the hardest look he could muster at the moment which wasn't as intimidating as he would have liked "you wanna go with me?" her grin sharpened and the hard look came back into her eyes.

"is that an offer?"

"'suppose it is." He grunted as he tried to get up, only to fall back to his knees, vision graying at the edges. The girl – Ramsey- scrambled up and over to him, hauling one of his arms around her shoulder and helping him get to his feet.

"Thanks kid." he mustered up as they began walking towards where the cliff stopped being a sheer drop.

"No problem old man."

She honestly hadn't expected that to go as well as it did, but she was glad for it. Even the faint promise of a somewhat decent group had her feeling lighter than she had since this whole thing had begun. She had almost forgotten what it was like to talk to another person, let alone banter. Now all she had to do was make sure that the dude –still no name forthcoming- didn't die before he managed to get them back to his camp.

It was a slow process walking back. He was heavy, and with the wound in his side he leaned heavily on her as then made their way back to wherever he came from. It took even longer when they encountered a group of three zombies and she had to leaving him to deal with them… well two of them. He got the last one that had bypassed her in favor of him with a quick knife to the skull, swaying dangerously as he yanked it back out.

They made good time afterwards though, both running on Adrenalin from the encounter that started to fade as they saw the tree line in the distance.

"That's it." He jerked his head and she could just make out fences and fields past the trees. The relief however, caused her muscles to tremble helping hold up the heavy man, and he wasn't doing much better in the face of trauma and blood loss. The both staggered on though, coming out into an open field as their legs threatened to give out, as if the forest had stolen the last bit of energy they had.

He leaned even more on her, causing her to stagger as she tried to keep them both upright while he seemed determined to move forward no matter what. They hadn't made it very far into the field before she could hear shouts in the distance, but really couldn't make out what they were saying over the man's heavy breathing. Looking up she turned toward where there were people running towards them weapons out, and she was going to ask the man to do something before there was a sharp whistling sound and pain bloomed from the right side of her face causing her to lose balance, falling with the man coming down right on top of her.

Her head hit the ground hard and despite the cushion of her backpack the man fell right on her stomach forcing the breath out of her. Head swimming and in pain she barely registered the shouting from the people suddenly surrounding them, slowly blinking she tried to make out what the man leaning over her was saying over the roaring in her ears before her vision suddenly blacked out and she passed out cold.

Consciousness came back to her slowly, critical thinking even slower. She knew that her face hurt, her arm was at an awkward angle and starting to hurt, and that she wasn't alone. Two men were in the room with her, and one was shaking her shoulder which was what had woken her to begin with.

"Hey, Ramsey, wake up." The lighter haired man who was shaking her spoke first as the dark haired one watched her warily.

"huh?" was all she could garble before a coughing fit wracked her body causing her face to hurt even more. The lighter haired one grabbed a glass off the nightstand and helped her take a few sips as her arm was apparently zip-tied to the bed

"What's your name?" The darker haired one demanded once the other had placed the glass down again.

"Ramsey" it was stupid maybe, to be so insistent on her last name, but for some reason she couldn't get over the fact that it might be the only thing left in the world that was really hers. Both the men gave her a hard look before the lighter man continued.

"And why'd you come in with our guy Ramsey?" his face was blank but he gave off an unimpressed air, waiting for her response with hawk like eyes, the other man was much the same

"I watched him fall off that horse he was riding… tried to help with the wound and stuff when I saw that he was still alive…. I figured if he was with a group is he was just out like that… and I've been alone for a long time." Her explanation halting as she tried to piece together something non-threatening for the people who had her tied to a bed, voice getting fainter with emotion as she got to the ending admission. Both men didn't change their faces at all, still suspicious.

"Yeah, but why him? He don't look like much" the darker (and seemingly more aggressive one) demanded leaning forward over her in a domineering way. She licked her lips, eyes darting between the men as she resigned to show her last card and hope it would be enough.

"Because he was looking for Sophia." The reaction was instantaneous, their eyes widening and bodies tensing as the darker one leaner down and grabbed her shoulders tight enough to hurt.

"Where is she?!" he practically shouted as the other barked at him (Shane apparently) to let her go but making no move to really enforce the demand.

"I-I found her days ago, she was bit before I got there – Her neck- and… and I stayed with her 'til she was gone…" she closed her eyes as the memories flooded her mind again "I didn't let her turn either…"

Both men had looks of resignation as she informed them of Sophia's fate, Shane even loosened his grip and she continued

"I heard your man looking for a 'Sophia' and I figured that if he was from a group who would look for a lost kid, well, there were worse people I could have met." Her eyes hardened at what was left unsaid as she remembered all to clearly some of the people she had barely managed to avoid as the weeks had gone by, even trapped in this bed being interrogated was better then what could have happened.

Shane left almost immediately after, Rick not far behind, leaving her in the room alone while she heard shouts and then crying from outside the room.

Waiting another few minutes to see if anyone would come marching in she relaxed back against the bed. No matter what happened next, she still was more secure than she had been in weeks, and that made her drop off before ten minutes had even passed.

The group at this point was pretty wary of strangers I think, but she wouldn't get Randall's treatment because so far, she's proven to be friendly and pretty non- threatening – so far.