A/N: I realized that I have been making a lot more typos and it's because I haven't been re-reading each chapter before posting. That ends today as I did edit this one so it should be better. Thanks for all the reviews they really help me with what I decide to write and usually they make me smile or laugh. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter.

When I woke up I could tell the sun was shinning outside and I was already too hot. I rubbed my eyes eyes and winced because I had rubbed against my cut from yesterday. I opened my eyes confused because when I winced I could have sworn I heard someone groan. Directly in front of me was Daryl stretching his arms and yawning. He then rolled over and opened his eyes. He looked at me for a few moments before he realized what was going on.

Daryl quickly sat up and started to pull on his shoes as he unzipped the tent and left. I stayed in the same position staring at the tent wall. It occurred to me that I had just slept in my underwear and Daryl had come in the tent sometime during the night and joined me. I quickly got dressed and pulled on my shoes before I left the tent as well. I zipped the tent door closed as I tried to settled my blush.

I turned around and headed into camp to see what I could do to help. It was when I got close enough that I saw Andrea kneeling by the Rv. I walked over to the group standing by the fire pit. I didn't listen to what they were saying by tried to get a better look at what Andrea was doing. Just beyond her I could see Amy laying on the ground and my heart sank. I quickly moved around the fire pit and walked over to Andrea.

When I got there I could see that Amy had been bitten twice, once on the arm and once on the neck. It was horrifying. I had never seen any sort of walker attack before. The only walker that I had really seen had been earlier that night and I never expected to see anything this bad. That was when I realized how foolish I had been to think that I could live without seeing terrible injuries.

I kneeled down beside Andrea and looked at her. She didn't say anything or even awknowledge my presence. I took her hand that was closest to me and pulled it into my lap. She still made no movement at all and I just continued to hold her hand. Sitting with her was probably the only thing I could do. For a long time I just tuned everything out thinking about how my life used to be.

Not a whole lot ever went on in my life before the outbreak. I would go to school everyday and then come home. Most nights I would cook dinner to avoid Dad and I always found cooking to be pleasant busy work. It was strange, every night when Dad would come home he would need someone to sit with him. No one knew where he went during the day since he had lost his job. Mom would usually sit in the living room with him while I helped Sophia with her homework in the kitchen. As long as the living room stayed quiet it was almost like living in a normal house.

On the weekends I would work at the local store to earn some money for the family. Dad's welfare checks usually didn't cover everything so the extra income helped. Then over the summer I would work full time. I always hated being away from the house because I always worried about Sophia. On the days that I worked Dad was never home when I got there, but I always worried that he had been home and just left before I got there. It made me nervous to leave Sophia home alone with Mom. She was a great mother, but I always worried that Dad would go after Sophia. In the end I don't know if my life was better before or after the outbreak.

I don't know how long I sat there with Andrea before Dale put a hand on my shoulder. He nodded back towards the campfire and I stood up. I understood that he wanted some time with Andrea and to say goodbye to Amy. I stood up and brushed off the back of my jeans. I slowly headed back to the main camp as Mom approached me.

"Can you please go pack up your tent and belongings? And take care of Sohpia's too?" I nodded and quickly made my way towards our tent. When I turned back I could see that she was watching me with her hand over her mouth.

I opened our tent and quickly changed into a new shirt and a pair of shorts. I then started separating items based on whether they were general or personal. I moved all the sleeping stuff to one side of the tent before starting to fold Sophia's clothes and pack them away into her bag. After finishing packing Sophia's things I started to fold and pack my clothes. I was almost done when I heard the tent door move.

I looked over and saw Daryl kneeling just outside the door. He nodded his head away before standing and moving away from the door. I slowly got up and followed him out. Then I stood just outside the tent and looked around. At last I saw him standing near the same spot that Dad had confronted me about spending time with Daryl. He was looking at the ground and chewing at the side of his thumb again. I smiled before walking over to him. As I approached he dropped his hand and looked up. I stopped in front of him and he looked around before stepping closer.

"I didn' do nothin'." I just stared at him confused about what he was talking about. He scratched the back of his head before he continued. "In the tent last night. I didn' do nothin'. I forgot ya were in there and I was tired I just went to sleep. I didn' touch ya or anythin'." He looked he genuinely concerned and it upset me that he thought he had to assure me that he hadn't done anything disrespectful.

"Oh, Daryl I know you didn't; you're a better man than that." His eyes narrowed slightly before he looked down again. "The thought that you might have didn't even cross my mind." He looked up at me again before nodding. I turned and started to walk away before quickly turning back. I walled back up to Daryl and looked him in the eye.

"He had told me I wasn't allowed to see you anymore, but I didn't care. I know it doesn't matter anymore because he's dead." I paused and took a shaky breath as I tried not to cry again. "But even if he wasn't I still wouldn't care. You're the only person I have ever talked to. We did projects in school, but that never went beyond the work that we had to get done. I like you. A lot and I feel safe around you and I wasn't going to let him take that away from me."

Daryl looked back at me and my hands were shaking as I waited for him to reply. I had just admitted that I had feelings for him and I didn't know how Daryl would respond. I didn't know if he would even understand. He may think that I was talking strictly in a friend sense and just leave it at that. Daryl looked around us once more before he stepped closer. He was now well into my personal space and it made me even more nervous. I kept facing straight ahead even though he looked at me from the side. I was too scared to look him in the eye if he was going to reject me.

"I like ya too." I turned and looked at him shocked. I didn't let myself get too excited in case it would turn out to be some cruel joke. Daryl just stared at me and I couldn't move. He reached out and grabbed my arm before pulling me with him. "Come on."

He pulled me through camp over to where they had moved the bodies. We slowly came up on corpses laying at odd angles. Walkers and people who had been at camp with us were mixed together across the ground. Each had a hole in the head. Laying up against a tree was a bloody pick ax. Daryl pulled me on through the bodies until he stopped in front of one and looked back at me.

I looked down at the body and couldn't understand why he brought me here. The face was unrecognizable. It had been smashed in probably from the pick ax, but it had clearly been hot more than once. I continued looking at the body wondering what I was supposed to see as I swallow the bile in my throat. As I looked down at the corpse I finally recognized the clothing.

This was my father.

I gasped as tears started to collect in my eyes and I tried to step back. Daryl kept a firm grip on my arm and wouldn't let me move away. I started to twist my arm in an attempt to break free. I didn't want to look anymore, and I was already starting to cry. Daryl turned and grabbed my other arm before pulling me close.

"He's dead. He can't hurt ya anymore. Understand?" He shook me slightly. "He ain't gonna hurt ya anymore."

It finally sunk in. I was finally free. Sophia and Mom were free. We didn't have to worry about how Dad was going to react to things anymore. I had never thought about what life would be like if Dad died. I don't know why, but I just could never picture him dead. He may have been a terrible person, but he was still my father and I loved him. I still do.

I started crying harder and I fell forwards onto Daryl. He slowly let go of my arms and I quickly put my arms around his neck. I held on tightly and buried my face in his neck. Daryl stood still just like he had the last time I hugged him. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and held onto me tightly. I immediately felt relieved that Daryl at least had some feelings for me. Maybe things would get a little bit better with Daryl in my life.

My eyes opened suddenly as I thought about a relationship with Daryl. He was almost twice my age. If the outbreak hadn't happened most people wouldn't have approved of anything going on between us. They would have seen Daryl as a pervert or me as a whore. Would it matter that we were such an unorthodox couple. Now the world was different though. So many people had died that it seemed ridiculous to try and wait for someone my age. I'm getting ahead of everything anyway. Daryl and I aren't even really a couple yet anyway.

As Daryl and I stood there everything seemed perfect. Daryl had put his head down into my hair and I was thrilled about how comfortable he was acting with me. At this moment things finally seemed to be turning around for me. That feeling was quickly ruined when we heard Jacqui screaming from camp. Daryl quickly let go of me and started back towards camp. On his way he grabbed the pick ax before running back to where everyone had gathered. I followed him as quickly as I could.

"Jim's been bit!"

And just like that everything went turned to hell again.