++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++

Seventeen

The next couple of days past on the farm pretty much without incident.

Rick had driven us back to camp-all five of us.

Ebony had been a mixture of pissed and upset to see Rick carry me out of the car and into the house so that Herschel could stitch me up. I woke up a few hours after we got back to the farm and wasn't allowed to do much except rest considering I'd been wounded twice in a week.

The prisoner that Rick had brought back to the farm with us was called Randall, according to Ebony. Daryl had interrogated Randall and he had revealed that his group was made up of thirty men that were starving and willing to do anything to have some food. Shane and Rick had almost let Randall go until he had revealed that he knew Maggie and that he knew where the farm was.

It was because of that information that he was now sitting in the barn, tied up and not allowed to leave until the group came up with a decision as to what to do with him.

The general consensus was execution.

Something which Ebony begged me to stay far away from.

So I complied.

During my time 'off the playing field' I took to teaching Carl and Sophia about various plants that you could eat if you ever got lost and ways to survive if they were ever separated from the group. It was my idea that Carl should carry a gun on him and Sophia at least a knife but neither parents would hear of it.

Rick was avoiding me-most likely because of what I said to him and because the whole group now knew that Lori was pregnant. He'd spoken few words to me since I'd woken up and each time I went to speak to him he rushed off to talk to another member of the group.

It was hard to believe that it had been eighty-one days since total wildfire had been declared. I'd woken up early in the evening ready and willing to start hunting for some food. I was hoping that Daryl would accompany me since we'd never really spent any time together. Since now the group was staying it was Daryl and me doing any of the wilderness work that was required.

Hunting, tracking, foraging-that was us.

I got up, showered, dressed in a pair of jeans, my boots and a red tank top. I strapped my quiver on and grabbed my bow before heading downstairs to look for Daryl.

"Evening," Ebony smiled. She put down the knife she was using to cut up some tomatoes and came over to check my stitches. "I think you can stay in bed for the rest of the day."

I shook my head. "Sorry, Eb's."

"It's dark," Ebony argued.

I shrugged. "We need something other than chicken to pass us by. I'm going hunting, where's Daryl?" I asked her.

"Outside," Carol answered. "He didn't want to come and play nice with the rest of us."

I laughed and grabbed a tomato off the bench. "I'll let you know when we go," I told Ebony.

"Aunty Jay!" Jade screamed. She came running into the kitchen with Sophia and Carl close behind her. "Are you going to play with us after dinner?"

I knelt down and shook my head. "Sorry, rabbit. I've got grown up stuff to do."

Jade's bottom lip disappeared. "But Aunty Jay-"

"We gotta eat, rabbit," I told her.

"Why do you call her rabbit?" Sophia questioned.

"Rabbits are my favourite!" Jade declared.

"Can I have a cool nickname?" Sophia asked.

I nodded. "What's your favourite animal?"

"A dove!" Sophia declared.

"Mine's a wolf!" Carl jumped right in.

I laughed. "Ok. The rabbit, the dove and the wolf. Play nice you three."

Carol looked at me when the kids took off, imitating the animals I had just named them. "You're good with kids. Ever thought about having any of your own?"

Ebony snorted with laughter.

"Really?" I exclaimed. "Eb's babe-Perhaps I should nick name you piggy?" Suddenly I felt the urge to take this moment to escape the kitchen when Ebony threw a cucumber at me.

There was a slight chill on the air when I stepped outside-it was a perfect evening but there was an irony tinge to the air. I went to my Jeep and found the rest of the bottle of whisky I had stashed and was meaning to use as a bribe for Daryl. Eventually I found Daryl sitting at his own little campfire where I invited myself to sit down.

"Piss off," he grumbled at me.

I opened the bottle of whisky and held it out. "Drink?"

Daryl snatched the bottle off me. "What do you want?"

"I wanna start hunting," I announced, telling him my plans. "Thought you'd tag along."

Daryl stared at me. "Why would I wanna help you?"

"Because we both recognise skill when we see it," I replied.

Daryl paused to think it over.

As we sat there in silence we could both hear the faint sound of screaming.

"That almost sounds like-" I started.

"Dale," Daryl finished.

The two of us shot up like a flash and ran towards the fence line. The closer we got, the louder the screaming got until Daryl found Dale on the ground with a walker ripping into him. Daryl tackled the walker to the ground and stabbed it in the head. I pulled Dale's shirt out of the way to survey the damage…it was bad.

The walker had eviscerated Dale.

Dale grabbed my hand and gripped it tightly. There was a look in his eyes…the look of a man who knew that he was about to die and didn't want to die alone.

Daryl came up beside me. "HELP!" he yelled. "OVER HERE!"

"Where?" Andrea shouted in the distance.

"There's so much blood," I whispered. "Daryl-"

"HELP!" Daryl shouted, waving his arms in the air. "RUN!"

I could see lights approaching us.

"Hang in there, buddy," Daryl pleaded with Dale.

Dale wasn't going to make it. We didn't have the technology any more to save a man when his guts were hanging out of his body.

"Who is it?" Carol shouted.

The group came to a combined stop and each of them-even Shane-was frozen in horror.

"PJ move!" Rick ordered.

I glared at him. "Kiss my ass Rick," I snapped.

Rick tried tapped Dale's face to keep him awake. "Listen to me, all right? Just listen to me. All right? Ok, hold on now. GET HERSCHEL!" he yelled.

Andrea knelt down beside me.

"He needs blood!" Rick yelled. "We got to operate now!"

"Hang on, Dale," Andrea pleaded. "Hang on!"

"There's nothing to hang on to," I whispered.

Herschel came running towards us with Lori, Ebony and Glenn.

"Can we move him?" Rick gasped.

Herschel shook his head, examining Dale. "He won't make the trip."

"You have to do the operation here!" Rick told him. He stood. "Glenn! Get back to the house!"

Herschel put his hand on Rick's shoulder and shook his head.

Rick turned. "NO!" he screamed.

Dale's grip on my hand tightened as he searched everyone's faces for anything other than pain. I closed my eyes. I should have gotten to know him better…I should get to know them all better and enjoy what little time we have left in this world. I could very well die tomorrow. When I opened my eyes I saw Daryl take Rick's gun off him and aim it at Dale's head.

"Sorry brother," Daryl whispered.

Dale smiled.

And Daryl pulled the trigger.

I sat in that field all night.

Kneeling right beside where Dale's body had been up until the sun had rose.

I really needed someone to talk to.

I made my way to the house, my hands stained with Dale's dry blood. I should wash them.

Carol pointed me in the direction of the barn when I approached her-she knew I needed to talk to Ebony. Dale was well liked by just about everyone.

When I got to the barn I stuck my head in the side door only to be greeted by a series of moans coming from deep within the haystacks. Intrigued I headed into the barn and froze at the sight of Daryl and Ebony stark naked in a large pile of hay.

Daryl and Ebony were having sex.

He caressed her face ever so gently before swooping in to steal a kiss from her. Ebony eagerly kissed him, moans like I've never heard before coming from her. Daryl wasn't exactly silent about it either.

Holy shit, Batman!

I took off out of the barn as quick as my feet would carry me.

There was no way in hell I wanted to see any more of that.

I guess we all deal with the loss of someone differently.

I guess…